The Tale of the Greatest Demon Lord of Gluttony
by Garchomping
Summary: Title is a bit misleading. It's not told in past tense, and the demon lord is a rookie in the beginning, and doesn't evolve particularly fast. Set in a Naruto world instead of a Digimon one. Rated M for violence, could probably get away with a T rating but to be safe it is rated M. Story follows two OC's, one a digimon and the other a ninja.
1. Chapter 1

**I do not happen to own Naruto or Digimon.**

 **I do happen to have a little pre-story rant-**

 **1)This is a Naruto and Digimon crossover (duh) However, most of the people in the world of Naruto do not have Digimon effecting their daily lives in any way, shape of form. As such Digimon won't be running aroud everywhere, and Digimon won't be encountered 24/7. Almost no one will be getting a Digimon partner.**

 **2)The Digimon will be edited. Most will remain the same. The biggest difference is that their won't be anything digital about Digimon. They are no longer (weren't ever is more appropriate I guess) data. They have chakra. Etc. PM me is you want any clarification.**

 **3)** **This story starts around, but not before, episode 118 in the anime. Sasuke and his team are going after Itachi. Naruto does the same so he can get Sasuke.**

* * *

Naruto is frantically running to the Hokage's office. Tsunade would be pissed if he was late again. Once he enters the building, he sees Sai and Sakura. He catches up to them and matches their walking, on-time pace.

"You know, you might be taking in Kakashi-sensei's tendency to be late," Sakura tells her blond teammate.

"Well, you can't embark on a mission without eating a fill of ramen first! Especially when we will probably just be guarding some caravan. Besides, I'm with the people that are on time," Naruto counters.

The three make it into the Hokage's office. They see Team Kurenai(without Kurenai), Shikamaru, and Kakashi already being briefed by the Fifth Hokage. "Ah, the rest of Team Kakashi. I just finished telling the others about your mission. Basically, a scouting division, the Lord of Fire, were at the coast when an island appeared out of nowhere, and disappeared a few seconds later. What's more, they said there was a village on the island. Normally, I wouldn't send two teams but they sent ten guys all swearing the same thing. Your mission is to go to the coast, and wait for a week for that island to reappear. If nothing shows, report back. If something does appear, try to make contact but avoid hostilities. Also look for suspicious people while you're out. I want you eight to leave within an hour," the Hokage tells them. She lets out a small sign, not liking sending ninja on a mission with so little information.

"Basically, this is probably going to be a wild goose chase, and I'm leading Team Eight because Kurenai is already busy. What a drag," Shikamaru whines. Team Seven and Team Eight start heading to the gate. However Naruto takes it upon himself to introduce Sai to the other team.

"So guys, this is Sai. And Sai, this is Shikamaru, Shino, Hinata and Kiba," Naruto starts, pointing in each member of the other team as he announces their names. "Shikamaru is really smart, and has this awesome Shadow Jutsu! Shino is a bug master, has these beetles that live inside him. Kiba has a partner called Akamaru who is this big dog, and they have these combo moves that are like fighting two ninjas. Where is Akamaru anyway? He's usually is right by you," Naruto says, eyes widening as he wonders where the dog is.

Kiba lets out a small laugh before answering,"Oh, he's just back at the house. My sister wanted him for something. Wouldn't tell me though. He'll be with us for our mission though."

Naruto almost jumps out of his skin, as if Kiba's answer took to long."I almost forgot Hinata! She's one of the Hyuga clan. She's got these cool Byakugan eyes, and uses a fighting style where she hits you gently and messes up your chakra. It's pretty cool to watch. And everyone, this is Sai. He's got this neat ink-based jutsu that can make his drawings come to life. He's kinda weird and doesn't really understand stuff well."

"He thinks I'm cool…" Hinata mutters to herself, while blushing.

"Nice to meet you all," Sai says, giving them all a fake smile.

"Alright, I say enough introductions, we all prepare and be at the main gate in thirty minutes?" Kakashi proposes. The other ninjas agree, and go to their separate houses to gather supplies. They are on their way to the coast in twenty minutes.

Three uneventful days later, they are near the coast. Kakashi gives the hand signal for the group to tighten formation. Then the oldest of the ninjas present orders," Hinata, check if we are being followed." Hinata turns on her Byakugan as ordered, and tells the group that there are four people tailing them. They decide to split into two groups, Team Eight staying to deal with the threat, while Team Seven goes on with the mission.

When Team Seven arrives at their destination they see nothing out of the ordinary. Naruto begins to head back to help Team Eight when the island they were sent to see appears out of nowhere. There isn't any warning, like there is with Kamui. The ninjas' eyesight's are confounded by the sudden change. They take a few moments to confirm that they are seeing an island, that smoke is coming from it, and that it wasn't there a few moments ago. Naruto begins moving to the island, but Kakashi stops him with a hand. "Let's wait a few minutes, don't want it disappearing with us on it," he said. Then, with a glance and a nod, Team Seven heads out.

After a few minutes of running on water and running up a cliff they see what they weren't expecting. The village they came to see recently went through destruction. The buildings are still burning. They can't see any remain fighting, so they head through the streets together. As they run through, they see what kind of battle it was. It had been a battle between ninjas. Kunai, blood, ninja stars and ninja bodies are littered around. "We should focus on finding any survivors," said Kakashi.

The Leaf Ninjas keep running, encountering higher and higher concentrations of bodies, even pockets of mercilessly slaughtered civilians. And it looks as if for every defender that fell, their was at least one attacker that also kicked the bucket. As the ninjas keep going, they realize that some of the blood hasn't completely dried yet. They slow their pace to see if they can spot survivors, traps or ambushes. And there isn't anything. Eventually Kakashi stops them. "It looks like we're close to the center. We haven't found anyone, We'll are going to have to keep looking for people after we send a quick status report. Sai, make some ink birds to report back to Tsunade."

While Kakashi is filling in a report for his boss, Sakura notices a stone out of place in the road. With her ridiculous strength, she moves the long, narrow, yellow stone out of the street. "Sakura," Kakashi calls out to her. He trains his uncovered eye on her and says," Don't." his voice is almost sad as he looks at his student. However, Sakura has too much curiosity, and that combined with the lack of urgency in her teacher voice, has her ijnoring her. She drops into a small, dark tunnel. The tunnel is full of corpses. Sakura gasps at the slaughter. Naruto drops in and sees the slaughter of innocents. At first he looks at the bodies in a mixture of shock and disgust. Then he just clenches his fists, and jumps out of the tunnel. Sakura notices the lack of decomposition and stench, and realizes the bodies must still be warm.

"I've been in a war before. These people knew the place where they were attacking well. Looks like they wanted to end a war in one battle," Kakashi tells his former students. What Kakashi wonders is why they would go so far, and leave so quickly.

"You know what Kakashi-sensei? I'm going to find who did this, and I'm going to make them pay for what they've done." Naruto says. The jinchuriki is enraged, shaking with anger and fists are closed.

Then the ninjas barely hear the high pitched sound of two blades hitting each other. Without a word, they run to the sound. The sound repeats itself a few times, and the ninjas are led to a small, one floor building. The door is closed, but the Leaf Ninjas open it just in time to see a blade protrude from a young man's back. The blade went through the ninja's heart before the man's back, killing him. So, when the blade is withdrawn, the corpse falls on the floor, joining many and spreading more blood on the battlefield of a building. However, the falling of said corpse reveals the first living soul Team Seven has seen. And she looks worse than any singular corpse so far.

Most of her skin and hair are covered in a sheen of blood. The sword of the man she just killed is in the muscle of her left arm. Underneath the blood, there are several cuts and bruises. Her shoulders are slumped, and her right foot is staggered in front of her left to keep her standing, and her breathing is a wheezing gasp. It takes her a moment to recognize that more ninjas have arrived. When she does, however, she murmurs, "Don't… Don't worry, Sensei. I'll.. I'll stop them all. " She takes a shaky step toward the foreign ninjas, and falls unconscious.

"Sakura see what you can do for her. Naruto swe-" Kakashi starts giving out new orders, but the ninjas detect a not very sneaky presence approaching the building. Naruto immediately goes to the right corner, and Sakura and Sai to the left. Kakashi jumps and lands on the ceiling. They prepare to ambush whoever comes in.

"I swear. I swear you better... you better not be dead, you fool." They hear as the door swings open. To their surprise, what would be known to the previously living inhabitants of the village as a purple little imp of the race of "Impmon" barges in. It takes one look around the room and grimaces. It spots the living girl's knocked out body and quickly levitates to her, surprising Team Seven further. They spot a tear growing on the Digimon's face. After checking for a pulse and wiping his face, the Digimon turns and yells," So, Ninjas of the Leaf, why are you here?" The imp's fists are clenched together, and his face marred by rage.

"I'm not sure yet," Kakashi starts talking as he drops from the ceiling to the floor. "This last hour was not one that I could ready myself for."

"That doesn't help me at all! Just tell me what happens next," the small one demands.

"We're going to take this girl back to the Leaf. But first, we're going to find out what you are," Kakashi answers, considering looking at the Digimon with his Sharingan.

"I'd also like to know," Shikamaru says. Him and Team Eight walk inside the building. "Sorry we're late. They were just some regular bandits, but they had a lot of buddies. We only found you because of Shino's bugs."

"I'm definitely no summon! But I have got better things to do than spill all my secrets to some ninjas from a different village! Especially now!" the Impmon yells, rage and grief unrelenting.

"Okay fine. We're going to take this girl with us to The Leaf and give her proper medical attention. Then, we'll see what happens," Kakashi proposes.

"If ANY OF YOU hurt her, I'll slaughter all of you," the small digimon growls. A small bit of the pain and rage leaves the Impmon's body language.

Taking that as approval to go ahead, Kakashi picks the girl up and then carries her outside, with the younger shinobi and the Impmon following. The Digimon follows from several feet behind the ninjas.

"Is there anyone else here?" Kakashi asks.

"No, she's the last one," the Impmon answers, solemnly shaking his head.

"Kiba, I'll need you to hold her for a while. Hinata you'll be coming with me," Kakashi orders.

"You'll be looking for more traces of creatures like me, you'll find some, but you won't find any bodies living. Plenty dead humans," the Impmon does a dismissive gesture.

Kakashi wonders what a creature like the Impmon would look like. However, voices his thoughts.

"Let's save this for later," Impmon says with a glare, not in the mood to discuss biology.

The Leaf Ninjas start backtracking out the destroyed village. The group heads to the forest outside the ruined buildings, with the Impmon taking the lead. The digimon leads everyone to the side of the island opposite the mainland, where the forest gives way to a field. Here, it looks as if someone cut the island from a bigger island, because it ends in a straight line, minus natural occurrences chipping away at the rock. Impmon stands in between four small, grey rocks, that if someone were to draw a line between them, it would form a square.

"At least one of you is a medical ninja right? You're letting someone bleed everywhere," Impmon remarks. Sakura realizes this and starts healing the still unconscious girl. "Everyone else make yourself busy. I'm going to teleport us to Kohona," the Impmon says. After he says that, he kneels down and puts his hands down on the floor. Each of his hands form a bridge.

"Are you that powerful? Teleporting nine people and a dog across that much land?" Kakashi asks.

"No I'm not. The ground here has been saturated with chakra for thousands of years. I'm drawing from it. White Eyes over here should be able to see it," the Impmon states. Hinata turns her Byakugan on, and sees an enormous, blue flow of chakra flowing from the ground into the Digimon's hand. The imp's already vast chakra storage is replenished and then overfilled. After a few minutes, he stands up and does long, complicated hand signs. Then with a flash, everyone finds themselves a little of the road outside Konoha's main gate. The humans feel various degrees of sickness, with Sai barely feeling it, but Hinata and Kiba bowling over.

"Come on tuts, you're fine," the Impmon says as he pants. He walks over to check on the girl from the village. Then he says,"I teleport everyone to a place I've never been before, discreetly, and without any loss of limbs, and no good job or nothing. Well, we might as well move on, with that half done healing job Pinkie here did," Naruto begins to think the glare is permanently etched onto the Digimon's face.

"Hold on, you can't be going into the village looking like... you," Shino stops the Impmon by holding a hand in front of him. **(I had to remove the tag)**

"You must think I'm retarded, don't you?" the Impmon snarls, thoroughly annoyed by the bug user. **("the Impmon glared at him" is enough. Just remove "the Impmon snarls" if you please).** Then he performs transformation jutsu and changes into an Impmon size, blonde kid with green eyes with his scarf still on. They run through the gate. With the exception of Naruto, everyone heads towards the hospital. Naruto runs towards the Hokage's office, while the unconscious survivor is handed to hospital staff.

Naruto bursts into the Hokage's office and yells, "Grandma Tsunade! We need you at the hospital right now!"

"Why? And how are you back already?" Tsunade asks, shocked by Naruto's quick return.

"Just come on!" Naruto yells as he begins to sprint back to the hospital. Tsunade lets out an "ughhh" of frustration, but gets up and chases Naruto, despite **hers** and Shizune's frustration with the youth.

At the same time, Team Eight and the extended Team Seven and the Impmon wait outside the room where the still knocked out girl is being treated. The Impmon tells Kakashi, "Nobody's returning to my village, before I teleported us, I reinforced the jutsu that kept it out of this dimension."

"Why?" A shocked Kakashi asks.

"Because their isn't anything for anyone there now," the Digimon answers.

"Kakashi! Report now!" Tsunade yells as she takes four steps at a time.

"Well-" Kakashi starts.

"What is that?" Shizune asks as the Impmon undoes his transformation jutsu.

"There was a ninja village on the island. It was almost completely wiped out. We found one person and she's recovering inside. We also found this thing," Kakashi explains, with a wave towards the Impmon.

"I guess it's my turn to explain," Impmon starts," They call creatures like me Digimons. When we're grown we are much more powerful than the average ninja. Few of us reach that level though. The more humanoid of use can use hand signs and jutsu. Some dumb human decided that all of our species should have a -mon at the end. For example, they call Digimons like me Impmon. We have our own names though. Imagine you classify things like plants, animals and Digimons."

"And all of them are dead? The ninjas from your village and the... Digimons?" Tsunade asks.

"The ninjas are all gone, except one. And all the Digimons...left. I don't think they'll be coming to this world for a while. When they do though, be ready for the fight of your life," Impmon grumbles.

"Why would we need to fight them?" Tsunade asks.

"Because I don't see them coming back to the human world for nothing less than blood. And that's because none went willing," the Impmon looking annoyed just because he has to explain things.

"Then how did you get anyway?" Tsunade's persistent questioning continues.

"I got lucky," Impmon says, but refuses to explain any more on the subject with a turn of his head.

"So, what's your plan now?" Tsunade asks.

"Stick with my partner and stay alive," the Digimon answers. As he answers, he glances to the room his friend is in.

In said room, the girl is starting to stir. All of her cuts and bruises have been healed. The major ones were healed by Sakura, while the smaller ones are healed by the nurses. While the nurses and doctors discuss the injuries, the girl tries to get her bearings without alerting the other people in the room. The next time one of them come close with a healing jutsu, she kicks him hard in the gut. The move surprises the nurse, and sends him to the ground. The ninja from a different village sends herself flying at the nurse. She punches him, and then proceeds to put him in a choke-hold and drags him back to the bed she was laid on.

"Where am I!?" She yells.

"The Hidden Leaf Village," one of the frightened doctors answers.

"Hidden Leaf…" she murmurs. Then, she yells, "Where are the others?"

"As far as we know, you're the only one."

"The… the only one?" she asks no one in particular. Her grip goes limp, and the captive doctor escapes. She begins to cry. By now, the Impmon and the ninjas outside have heard the ruckus inside. The Digimon bursts in first, with Kakashi following. The latter has a kunai drawn.

When the girl sees the Impmon she cries out, "Maru!" in surprise. She goes and hugs him. Maru the Impmon hugs her back.

"I'm glad you're okay," Maru whispers into the girl's ear.

"Let's give them some privacy. I'll question them later. We'll also need to inform the Sand Village." Tsunade says.

As The Leaf Ninjas leave, the girl quietly and slowly asks, "How'd this happen Maru? We should have won."

"I don't know who did this to us… But believe me when I say whoever did this will burn when we find them!" His eyes almost glow with anger. He unintentionally spits as he speaks. His forehead creases. A clenched fist is raised, and is shaking with anger.

The girl crawls back onto the bed, and sits on it. Maru levitates to the frame and sits above her. Tsunade posts two of the ANBU outside and returns to her office.

While Team Seven and Team Eight return to their homes to rest, Maru and his partner begin to contemplate their suddenly changed lives.

"How'd we lose Maru?" the Digimon's partner is speaking softly and with long pauses between each sentence. "Even if they attacked us after the Olympus Twelve, Maul should of been able to take on whatever they threw at us."

When Maru answers, he stares at nothing as he answers, focusing on the memories, "I was going to go train, but my usual spot was taken, so I snuck out and was heading to the forest to train. I heard a bunch of commotion, and then I saw the other village's shinobi and Digimons, all geared for battle. I decided to go run and use the land's chakra to alert our people. But before I could get there… the sky opens up. It was like someone just filled it in a big, green square. All of the Digimons under it were sucked up. They went just above building level then just… fazed out of existence. I think it was some kind of advanced portal jutsu. Most of the Digimons were knocked out by it too. I only saw Maul, Wisemon, and a few others struggle to escape. By the time they were all gone, I'd reach the drawing point. I created several Third Eye of Water with the land's chakra. I watched… everything."

Rage invades Maru's speech again. More and more fills the small digimon as he talks."For a few minutes, everyone was shocked that the Digimons were gone so easily. Then the other village attacked. They seem to had forgotten whatever plan they had. They rushed in blindly, and started killing whoever they saw. And the Olympus Twelve meant that most of our forces were killed, or recovering and confused. It took forever for our people to rally and by that time, any advantage we might have had being defenders was lost. We had just lost too many ninjas to the Olympus Twelve. While you were evacuating villagers, I was using the land's chakra to kill as many as I could. Dropping enormous fireballs, just like practice. Eventually they won."

The intense anger suddenly drops, and Maru seems transfixed by the memory, "That warehouse you passed out in was the final stand. We had lost all of the civilians by then. When they gathered, I unleashed the most powerful attack I could channel to wipe them out. There were only you and a couple of the enemy left, but my body couldn't handle any more foreign chakra, so I got to you as fast as possible."

Maru voice adopts a soft and slow tone. "You were passed out, and the Leaf Ninjas had shown up. I showed up after them. I teleported us back here, but I secured our village back in its dimension. I think someone was draining it to the point where it couldn't keep itself stable before we were attacked."

The two are quiet for a while. They find themselves reminiscing about the people they'd never see again. They both start tearing up involuntarily. "Kazue, what are we going to do?" Maru asks.

Maru's partner, Kazue, doesn't have an answer straight away. However she thinks back to the teaching of her sensei, and of her parents for inspiration. When she answers, she does it slowly and shakily and softly. "We're going to keep moving forward." Then she says it again, a little faster and a little louder, convincing herself it's true. Then, after saying it again, she truly answers Maru, "Yep, we're going to keep moving forward. And we're going to start now. C'mon, let's go." Although both Guy and Lee would put the emphasis in her voice to shame a thousand times over, it helps inspire Maru.

"No one is going to get to either of us. My village won't be extinguished so easily," Maru thinks to himself, promising to keep himself and Kazue alive. The pair leave the room.


	2. Chapter 2

"Um, can I get my stuff?" Kazue asks one of the ANBU outside her room. The one she asks nods to the other, and the other goes to retrieve Kazue's clothes and equipment. When the elite ninja returns, Kazue changes and is led to the Hokage's office.

Tsunade, Kakashi, and Shizune are surprised when Kazue and the girl's strange, small, "partner" walk into the Hokage's office. Behind them is one of the ANBU left to watch them. However, the Hokage takes this chance to really examine the girl.

Her first thought was a slightly less pale, more clothed, more emotional, and female Sai. Her hair is straight and short, not even touching her shoulders. Her build is slim, but muscular, nothing out of the ordinary for a ninja. She's wearing a black, long-sleeved shirt, matching her black pants. On her feet, there are standard ninja sandals. She's got a slightly curved, guardless, sword in a scabbard on her waist. The only other article of clothing Kazue has are her black, fingerless gloves.

"I wasn't expecting to see you for another day or so," Tsunade says, shifting paperwork so she can rest her arms on the desk.

"We've got better things to do than wallow in our own despair," Kazue explains. Kakashi notes that Maru is back behind Kazue, studying everyone in the room.

"Fair enough. So, you are?" Tsunade asks.

"I'm Kazue, and this is Maru," Kazue answers.

"So, you've lost your village. I'm sorry to sound so heartless, but what are your plans?" Tsunade's face is impassive.

The question makes Kazue close her eyes and take a deep breath, "Ideally, I and Maru find somewhere to live, become strong, and just… live."

"Why don't you become a Leaf Ninja? You have nowhere else to go," Tsunade asks.

Putting her hands behind her back and shifting her weight, Kazue takes a moment to consider."Umm, I don't see why not,"

"Do you think the people who took your village will come after you?" the Hokage asks. Kazue shakes her head no. "Alright, then tell me your fighting skills."

"Well, I've got no glaring weaknesses. I'm good at fire style jutsu, and am starting to get wind style. I've got decently large chakra reserves. I'm not too shabby at taijutsu or with a sword. Me and Maru work great together," she says, waving a hand in the Impmon's direction as she continues, "I've also got this kekkei genkia that I can't really use yet."

"What does it do?" Tsunade asks. Hiding her curiosity is the same emotionless face.

"I kinda just... it's easier to show you," she says. She draws her sword and fearlessly proceeds to try and perform a downward slash on an outstretched left arm. Before she can connect, her entire body disappears for a moment. The sword, no longer in the ninja's grasp, falls freely. She appears, and snatches it up before it can hit the ground "Too much," she murmurs to herself. She tries again, but this time the sword goes through her flesh as if she was a ghost. Her entire left arm becomes semi-transparent until the sword's swing is finished.

"It's like I… fade out of existence or something. It doesn't come out in my family often. I'm not very good at it yet, and I don't have any teachers so I don't use it in combat. I've been working on it though. Right now, it poses more of a risk relying on it. I'm still a genin though, I kinda held Maru back for a few years because I didn't want him to fight," Kazue twiddles her fingers as she says that last sentence.

"Alright then, now where should you live…" the Hokage wonders aloud. She considers putting her in the orphanage, but didn't want to put her in such a foreign place, especially since she is old enough to be self-sufficient. She considers putting her in a clan, but quickly reconsiders. She then considers letting her live solo like Naruto, but she would be lost for weeks. But that brings her to think of Naruto. "You could sleep at Naruto's place for a few weeks until you know the village well enough. Then, you can have your own place."

Shizune protests, "You can't be serious!"

"Can you think of anything better?" Tsunade asks, eyebrows raised.

When Shizune doesn't respond Kazue asks, "I don't have a problem with that but who's Naruto?"

"One of the ninjas who found you. The blonde guy. I'll send someone to summon him." Without saying a word, two ANBU pop out of nowhere in a kneeling position. "Tell Yamato to do it," the Hokage orders. Then Tsunade speaks to Kazue, "The Chunin Exams are coming up, you said you were holding out on them for your partner. If you do that now, we can say that's your entry task for officially joining Kohana. Are you willing to do them now?" Kazue nods her consent. Alright, they're in a couple of days. Make sure you're ready. Oh, and, about your past, try not to announce it to everybody, but don't lie. Do keep your friend in disguise though. I don't want him revealed until the exams start," Tsunade orders. "Oh, here is some money," she adds as an afterthought, pulling out a wad of money from her desk.

Naruto approaches Tsunade's office, his voice projecting to those inside before he evens gets to the door. Naruto speaks once the spiky-haired ninja sees the Hokage, "Aww, Grandma! Why'd you have summon me right before dinner? I was literally walking into Ichiraku's when Mr. Draconian Methods shows up."

"Shut up, Naruto!" yells Shizune.

"You really shouldn't whine so much near your leader. You might just end up finding cats again," Tsunade threatens. Before Naruto can open his mouth again, Tsunade resumes speaking, "I've got a task for you. Kazue here doesn't have a place to stay. For a couple of weeks, I want you to share your apartment with her. Got a problem with it?"

"I guess not. Why do I have to live with a girl?" Naruto asks. As he speaks, Naruto's eyes glance to Kazue, then Maru, before fixing his gaze back at Tsunade.

"Because she doesn't have a clan to go to. And if she's going to the orphanage, you are too." Kakashi speaks up.

"Nope, let's go umm… I don't know your name," Naruto turns to face Kazue.

"I'm Kazue," she says with a smile, offering a handshake. Naruto shakes her hand. "...and this is Maru." She points at the Digimon.

Naruto accepts it and shakes hands with her. "Alright then. I'm Naruto."

As the genins leave the Hokage's office, Kakashi says, "Back to what I was saying…"

The two genins, with the Digimon, walk together quietly as they leave the mansion. Until Naruto decides to break the silence. "So, you wanna grab something to eat?

Looking at Naruto, Kazue responds, "I'm not that hungry,"

"Nonsense! It's getting late, I'm hungry, and I've got to show you around. I'll take you to the best ramen place in town!" exclaims Naruto. He grabs her hand and begins pulling her towards Ichiraku's.

Then, Kazue looks at Maru, who looks about ready to roast Naruto. The kunoichi's shrug prevents the disguised Digimon from doing just that. However, Kazue does reclaim her wrist with a yank.

When they arrive at their destination, Naruto announces, "I'm back!"

"Naruto! Welcome back! The Hokage will let me stay in business after all! And I see you brought a girl and a friend with you!" Teuchi jokes.

"Yep! I've got to show her around for the next couple days. But enough about her, two of the regular please!" Naruto says. His mouth waters at finally getting a meal after the delay that is Kazue and Maru.

"Three," Kazue corrects him, gesturing at Maru's transformed state.

"I thought he ate some special kind of food," whispers Naruto, one hand at the corner of his lips.

"He isn't a dog," Kazue says, almost chuckling as if Naruto said something ridiculous. After a moment of awkward silence she asks, "Well… what should we talk about?"

"Umm… well… how old are you?" Naruto asks.

"Fourteen," is her response.

"Best friend?"

The question makes Kazue hang her head in sadness.

"Oh! Sorry…" Naruto says. "Stupid, stupid Naruto!" He thinks, mentally hitting himself in the head a few times.

"It's fine. It's Maru either way," Kazue says, bringing her head back up. Her eyes are a bit watery.

Having no other customers, their food arrived quickly. Four bowls of ramen were brought, two for Naruto and one each for Maru and Kazue.

After her first bite Kazue quietly mentions, "This isn't very healthy…" She picks up a couple noodles with her chopsticks, examining it. Despite that, she finishes the bowl without further complaint. Maru does the same. Naruto finishes both his bowls before they are half way done.

As they leave the store, Naruto announces, "Since my place to Ichiraku's is probably the most important route, I'll take you their next."

"I think we got stuck with the idiot," Maru floats up and whispers in Kazue's ear.

"Probably," Kazue whispers back.

"C'mon guys! We'll need to hurry up if we want to get a lot in today!" Naruto says with an abundance of enthusiasm as he speeds up.

They reach Naruto's home in a few minutes. Once they enter the building Kazue's face recoils in disgust. She exclaims, "This is the messiest room I've ever seen! Is ramen all you eat?"

"Pretty much," Naruto responds, scratching the back of his head as he is a little embarrassed to the mess he is presenting. His embarrassment shows as a small smile.

"Well I guess I'll have to clean it up," sighs Kazue.

"No, no, no! I can clean it! Just tell me where you want to sleep!" Naruto protests, waving his hands.

"Our definitions of clean are probably different," Kazue responds. She stares at Naruto as if she is daring him to challenge her statement.

The genins spend the evening cleaning the place. After seeing the fridge is no better, Maru decides to help out. By the time they finish, it's too dark to reasonably show Kazue around. So they decide to sleep. Kazue voluntarily takes a mat on floor. Maru decides to use her thigh as a pillow.

Later, Naruto wakes to the sound of Kazue sobbing.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Naruto asks the other ninja. Worry shows on his face.

"They're all gone, Naruto. I couldn't do anything. I couldn't even slow them down. All of them, whisked up in flames, just like that."

"None of that matters," Naruto claims. Kazue looks up at him with teary, confused eyes. "None of it matters because you are still here. You're still standing, and that means you have to keep moving forward, believe it! And if you stumble, someone will be there to help you right back up. And if somebody gets in your way, just knock them down. You've still got strength in you, and as long as that's true, you've got to keep moving forward."

"Thanks, Naruto," Kazue says. "They'd want me to be strong. No crying from here on out." The kunoichi thinks. Tears stop flowing down her face. A while later, Naruto is back asleep while Kazue is still awake, feeling a little bit better. She distracts herself from thinking of what she's lost by thinking of battle tactics.

Then, Maru speaks up, He'd been watching his partner the whole time, carefully considering what would help Kazue. "The fool is right you know. We're going to be fine. I'll make sure of it. We'll become strong. Real strong. I'll make sure of it. Nothing can stop me. That means nothing can stop us. That's a promise," the Impmon says seriously, looking at Kazue's face from her thigh.

"Thanks, Maru. You really help," Kazue says, and even manages to smile.

"That's what I'm here for. Cheering up dum-dums," Maru smugly states. The Digimon turns on his side and goes back to sleep. Kazue falls asleep soon afterward.

The next morning, Kazue and Maru wake up before Naruto. They go to fridge to find nothing but ramen cups. Half of which are already opened.

"Well, looks like we're going exploring," Kazue states, looking over herself to ensure that she is ready to go out. She grabs some of the money Tsunade gave her, and heads out. She and a transformed Maru head out in search of a vegetable cart. They memorize the route and chance upon a early cart. By the time they have chosen healthy food that they want and make it back to Naruto's, Naruto is still out cold. Kazue and Maru decides to make soup. As they cook, Sakura knocks on Naruto's door. Kazue calls Naruto's name several times, but that doesn't wake him.

Seeing Kazue open the door shocks Sakura. "What… What are you doing here?"

"The Hokage told me I could stay here until I know my way around," Kazue responds, wondering why Sakura is at Naruto's door. She eliminates boyfriend and girlfriend before she points at the basket in Sakura's hand asks, "What's that?"

"Naruto doesn't eat very well. Sometimes I drop off breakfast for him," Sakura explains.

"Oh, okay. Well want to come in?" Kazue opens the door a bit more and stands out of the way.

"Sure, I guess." Sakura answers. "Who tricked this poor girl into living with Naruto?" She walks into Naruto's house, gasping at how clean it is. "Who...?" She stammers a couple times.

Kazue knows what she's talking about, "That would be Maru and me." She fills a cleaned ramen cup with soup and hands one to Maru, and then Sakura, before getting one for herself. The three are forced to sit cross-legged on the counter, Naruto not having a proper table. Kazue and Sakura both lean against opposite walls, with Maru sitting right next to Kazue.

"So you're telling me Naruto made you clean his house? And didn't even give you his bed! When he wakes up I'm gonna-" Sakura starts. She shakes a raised fist for emphasis.

However, Kazue raises her hands and shakes her head in protest, "No, no, no! I volunteered for all of it! Really! And I am definitely not touching that mattress."

"Huh? Well, fair enough I guess," Sakura says, calmed. She looks at her sleeping teammate before she continues to eat breakfast.

They eat their meal in silence for a few minutes. Then, as they are almost finished, Naruto begins to stir. Initially, he doesn't realize where he is, but calms himself quickly after realizing it's just what his place looks like when clean. Squinting at the girls and the Digimon on the counter, he asks, "Sakura? Kazoo? What are you doing here?"

"It's Kazue, fool. And we live here now," Maru voice and body language are completely neutral, even though the words he's saying would be venomous if it expressed Maru's true feeling.

"Yep. They made food for you, too. But I ate it all, and now you're stuck with what I left you. Shame too, because the soup wasn't that bad," Sakura adds.

"Oh well, I'm sure whatever you brought tastes better," Naruto says. He opens the basket to find a jar of less than tasty food pills.

He lets out a groan as Sakura says, "I felt kinda bad for bringing those, but I knew you were out. After seeing that Kazue has done more cleaning than you in one day then you've done for yourself ever, I don't feel so bad."

Naruto eats three of the food pills with a bunch of whining. After they eat and prepare themselves for the day, they head out. They notice a messenger bird flying to the Hokage's office."It's still rather early, guys. What should we do?"

"It's not early, you just sleep late," Sakura teases. This starts a bout of bickering between the members of Team Seven. When they finish, they decide to show Kazue the Ninja Academy and other shinobi-related buildings. They don't get halfway through their list before Sai joins them. After introductions, they decide to start heading to the Hokage's office. They all go into Tsunade's office together, but Tsunade tell Kazue and Maru to wait outside, with their loyalty being untested. When Naruto and the others leave, both Kazue and Maru notice the serious aura that has taken Naruto and Sakura over, the former more than the latter.

"Take care of the house, Kazue," Naruto says as he runs past her.

After wandering what the brought the sudden burst of seriousness, the pair walk into the Hokage's office.

"Oh, you're here. Well, I've got some news for you. The Chuunin Exams have been moved up to tomorrow," Tsunade says as they walk in.

"Yesterday you said a few days. What happened?" Kazue asks.

"I keep getting letters from the other Kage that they aren't coming. Only myself and the Kazekage will be there. Again. Don't be telling that to everyone. Also, Naruto will be gone for a couple of days. You'll be on your own today," Tsunade says. "Now, what to do with you… Can't really send you on a mission..." She wonders. "Got it!" She writes a quick letter. "Take this to Guy. He and his team will train you for today. Ask him to show you where you'll be reporting tomorrow."

Kazue nods, and walks out the door, with Maru following.

"What do you think their exams are?" Kazue asks Maru as they walk.

"It's probably some moral questions followed by a fight of some sort. We'll breeze past it," Maru declares.

Kazue says, "I don't think it'll be that simple."

"I'll make it that simple," Maru says confidently, eliciting a laugh from Kazue. The Digimon knows it won't be overly easy, he just wants to make Kazue laugh.

The partners joke as they search for Team Guy. From the other side of a fence they hear, "C'mon! You Can Train Harder Than That! You've Got The Fire Of Youth Within You!"

"Kazue, I can hear the capitals in his speech," Maru grumbles. Kazue just arches her eyebrows. They find their way to the other side of the fence to see Team Guy training. Specifically, Lee is running laps, while Tenten almost passed out on the floor, with Neji panting but not quite out of it, while Guy does his version of talking. A scowl covers Maru's face as he goes from jokester to analyzing potential threats. He undoes his transformation jutsu,his arm cross, and he begins to flag behind Kazue.


	3. Chapter 3

**Again, last time chapters 2,3,and 4 came out wrong last time. If it happens again TELL ME PLEASE**

When Guy sees the two from a different village, he overethusticaly 'says',"Everyone Stand Ready! Newcomers Are Approaching! Get Ready For Sparrring!"

"Are you Guy?" Kazue asks. When Guy furiously shakes his head yes, she hands him the letter Tsunade wrote. As Guy reads it, the mold of energy and happiness that is his face sobers, but only for a moment.

Then, Guy announces,"Alright! This Here Is Kazue! She's The Ninja Kiba Told Us About! But Because of The Fire Of Youth, She's Here Today, To Train For The Chunin Exams Tomorrow! So, To Keep Her In Prime Shape For Tomorrow, The Three Of You Will Spar With Her! Tenten! YOU'RE FIRST!"

"I don't think you were sent to right place if you want to be alright tomorrow." Neji mutters to himself.

"Are you sure you want to train with us? If you're still a genin, you probably won't be able to keep up." Tenten asks.

"We'll be fine. I haven't taken the exams before because I held Maru back for a while." Kazue wait an hour for Team Guy to recover- much to Lee's protest. When they are rested, they decide to head out to Konoha's forest to spar, to find an environment that Kazue is more likely to encounter. They settle where the plains and forest meet, with a small lake on the side.

Tenten starts about fifty feet away from Kazue and her Digimon partner, with trees on her right and grassy plains on her left, with the lake being on her left about halfway between. Before they can start, Guy yells," Don't Hold Anything Back! Neji And I Will Intercept Any Lethal Blows. Show Us The FIRE OF YOUTH!"

Maru notices Tenten taking measurements and counting. The Impmon says," She's doing calculations. She's probably an expert at throwing weapons. Watch out. Especially for senbon."

Kazue nods, and the partners charge. Tenten does several backflips, then hops into the air, and waves her sealing scroll once. Two groups of three kunai fly towards Maru and Kazue. Kazue simply darts to the left. going between the two clusters of kunai. Maru floats up and to the right, his body cartwheeling in mid-air. By time he comes down, he's on the other side of Kazue. The two continue their advance, with Tenten taking three steps back for every four they take forward.

"Tenten is measuring how they defend themselves! They don't stand a chance!" Lee celebrates.

"I believe you're underestimating them. We haven't seen anything the little purple thing can do yet." Neji says, which Lee simply frowns at.

Kazue and Maru stop halfway to Tenten, where the lake is jutting the farthest out into the battlefield. Maru floats a few yards into the lake. Then he raises his upturned hands to his chest level and extending them, while grinning devilishly. As a result, two thin streams of water curl and overlap around. but not quite touching, Maru. They stop a few inches above the floating Digimon's head.

Tenten crouches, and waves her sealing scroll three times. This time, eighteen kunia are unsealed, a burst of three kunai fly at both of Tenten's opponents each time she waves her scroll. This time, the distance they must fly is much shorter, the danger coupled with the fact that they are flying faster this time.

Maru protects himself rather easily, controlling some water to leap up catch the first barrage in the form of a wave, then turning the tendrils he has been controlling into small projectiles to deflect the second, and dodging the last by doing a levitating backflip. As he returns to his original position, he smirks. At the same time, Kazue is having a much more difficult time dodging, but still manages to only receive a small cut on her arm.

Maru and Kazue move next, with Maru sending dozens of watery projectiles from different parts of the lake while Kazue charges. Tenten puts most of her focus into dodging Maru's attacks. She manages to launch a couple of attacks at Maru, but the sheer number of the Digimon's projectiles knocks them down and barely dents Maru's barrage. Kazue gets on her right side, while Maru's barrage is coming from her left front. Tenten's dodging switches from evasion to leaping away from the lake. Eventually, she is out of Maru's effective range. The Digimon levitates quickly to the fighting kunoichi. As her partner is getting to back her up, Kazue tries to strike Tenten with taijutsu. She manages to land a couple of kicks, but nothing debilitating. Tenten is on the defensive, leaping back and waving her scroll, the shurikens and kunai that come out end up, slowing Kazue's offensive. As Maru is practically caught up and slowing himself for a speed more appropriate for aiming, Kazue does a few quick hand signs for Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu. Seeing the attack, Tenten counters by unsealing a couple of kunai with explosive paper bombs attached. However, two small flames with a pink outline appear above Maru's open palms. He throws them. The small, fast attack goes around Kazue's fireball intercepts Tenten's explosive kunai before the kunai could intercept the fireball. Tenten is saved by two blasts of Neji's Eight Trigrams Air Palm cancelling out Kazue's fireball.

"Alright! Well Done, Both Sides! Time For A New Match!" Guy says.

"I Will Be Your Opponent Next! Prepare Yourself!" Lee announces.

"He's as bad as his father…" Maru says quietly as he floats onto Maru's shoulder.

"I wasn't even finished…" Tenten complains, forgotten.

A couple of minutes pass to let Kazue and Maru recover. Then, the match between them and Lee begins. They start only ten meters away."From what I've read on Guy, he is a taijutsu user. If this one is a clone of Guy, then that's probably all he uses. But he'll be using it well." Maru says.

"Noted. Back me up." Kazue says. She charges Lee, attempting to punch him. Lee easily blocks the blow, and quickly kicks her hard in the gut. When Kazue stumbles back a few yards, he returns to his stance.

He then says,"You Will Wave To Do Better Than That If You Want To Impress During The Chunin Exams! Come At Me With All Your Might!"

"Well, taijutsu isn't going to work." She says from one knee. She stands, pulls her sword halfway out of her sheath and asks,"You mind if I?"

When Lee gives consent, she pulls out her sword and charges Lee, this time, Maru follows. With her sword in hand, Kazue attacks Lee. Lee tries to remain in one spot while dodging, but is quickly forced back to avoid a slash. Lee notes that the speed in her attacks has increased, and that the earlier taijutsu attack was just to get a quick look at Lee's form. He tries to congratulate her, but can't find the time in the middle of a furious assault. When Lee spots an opening and tries to kick at her head, the kunoichi simply perfroms a spinning strike while ducking. Neither of them can land a hit on the other without one of them making a mistake. Lee's somewhat greater speed is countered by Kazue's greater reach. The two attempt to hit each other for some time. Kazue fakes an enormous break in her guard when Lee slaps her sword out of its path. When Lee goes in to hit Kazue, Maru interferes, performing several, rapid kicks to push Lee back. Kazue stabs her sword into the ground with just enough force to keep the sword in the ground for a later, easy draw and does the hand signs for Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu. Maru dashes to Kazue's right performs the same jutsu at the same time. Lee dodges both fireballs, putting some distance between himself and his opponents to analyse their sudden change in strategy.. Kazue jumps up and does the same ninjutsu. This time, Maru does a different jutsu, and one fireball turns into five fireballs. Lee dodges this attack with much more desperately and puts some more space between him and the fire manipulating pair. While the smoke clears, Maru performs Shadow Clone Jutsu, and the one clone his makes levitates left of the battle quickly. To prevent Lee from noticing, Kazue charges him through the smoke with Maru right beside her. They engage in another deadlock, with Maru making more frequent interruptions. Kazue manages to both turn Lee's back to Maru's clone and force him in its direction. The clone is slowly levitating towards Lee, its target unsuspecting. The distance between the clone and the original shortens with the fight dragging on. When Kazue is a but overambitious with her attacks, Lee manages to knock her to the ground. When she says," I win." it confounds Lee and wipes the grin off his face.

His confusion turns into surprise when Maru's clone says,"Badaboom." and puts a small. red and pink flames next to each of his ears. The clone dissipates, and Lee helps Kazue up.

"Thank You For The Exciting Fight! I Hope We Can Fight Again Soon! Next Time I Will Not Lose. Watch Out For Neji, He Is Stronger Than I Am!" Lee says in his normal voice and bows.

"Stop telling everyone that. Especially those who I am about to fight!" Neji demands as he passes him on his way to the field.

"Aw come on. You just saw us fight twice. I mean, I know a clone won't sneak up on you, but come on. You should throw me some pointers." Kazue half-jokes. She gets a serious stare from Neji as her only response. Seeing that's all she is going to get, she says,"Fine, fine. Just let me catch my breath before you beat me to a pulp."

"This guy is a Hyuga. Kohana's All Seeing White Eyes. Almost perfect three hundred and sixty degree vision, and chakra network is visible. They use a fighting style called Soft Fist to disrupt chakra networks. We aren't going to anything but get crushed fighting close range. I've heard one of the branch families was incredibly talented, and mastered a spinning chakra shield at a young age. Aside from my own, we don't have anything that can stand up to penetrate that kind of power." Maru tells Kazue, quiet enough so no one else can make out what he is saying.

"I love it when you tell me everything I need to know about an opponent. Even when I already know half of it. But enough jokes. Let's find out if this really is the branch member you're talking about. If not, let's see how many fireballs he can take. If so, let's put up a good fight." Kazue says.

When the match starts, Neji starts by activating his Byakugan. Maru and Kazue start by making hand signs, while Maru levitates above Kazue's head. Neji notes that they both are doing different hand signs and prepares himself to dodge whatever they're readying. Maru says," Fire Style: Greater Fireball Jutsu." The fireball that he and Kazue cast together is taller than Maru standing on Guy's head, yet as fast Maru's smaller fireball attack.

The speed and power catches everyone but the casters off guard, and Neji uses Eight Trigrams Heavenly Palm Rotation. His move protects him from the attack. "Let's see if we can get past that." Kazue mutters. Neji allows himself to be surrounded by clones of Maru. Each clone performs Fire Style Fireball Jutsu, and Kazue throws a pair of kunai in. Neji's Palm Rotation defects them all. As the partners consider their next attack, Neji sends three blasts of Eight Trigrams Air Palm at each of his opponents. None of them come close to making impact. Kazue spits a couple fireballs, and Maru throws several of his small fireballs. Neji dodges all of them with the exception of a few of Maru's fireballs. Those, he attacks if they were chakra points, dissipating them.

"So neither of us will hit each other with ranged attacks. And I'm definitely not trying to touch you. So what's next?" Kazue asks.

"You'll have to come at me eventually. You'll run out of chakra before I do." Neji states.

"Go ahead and give it a try Maru." Kazue says.

Maru runs at Neji, who plans to try to strike the chakra points in his arms. Kazue runs behind Maru. To the Hyuga's surprise, he takes an over exaggerated step, and his arms flail out. Neji realizes that it's the same thing he did when he was self-teaching Palm Rotation. He performs the move. A second before that happens, Maru unleashes a technique with the same effect. In comparison to Neji's, Maru's is a much darker shade of blue, and roughly ten percent larger. Furthering Team Guy's surprise, Maru takes his rotating sphere of chakra into the air. He forces his sphere down onto Neji's. When the two spheres grind against each other, destroying one another but being replenished as soon as they're destroyed. Kazue watches helplessly as the two absolute defences go against each other. Neji and his sphere are slowly being forced into the ground.

"The little demon thing is going to tire Neji out, then Kazue is going to go try to finish him." Tenten guesses.

"Do Not Underestimate Neji! His Fighting Style Does Not Require Much Chakra!" Lee says.

However, Guy interrupts," ALRIGHT! Enough Sparring! Now, We Train! Four Hundred Laps Around The Lake!"

"Sensei, we haven't even finished." Neji starts

"FIVE HUNDRED LAPS! Since You Still Have Energy Left!" Guy says.

Kazue and Maru end up running with Team Guy, as well as their next two exercises before leaving.

"We will see you later. Maybe then we can continue." Neji says between pants and starts another run.


	4. Chapter 4

Kazue and Maru walk back to Naruto's place. On the way, they discuss Team Guy.

"Are there any normal people here?" Maru ponders, half-asking half- complaining.

"Talk for yourself." Kazue jokes.

"Gods do not count as mere people." Maru counters.

The joking continues. They don't talk about anything serious until they reach Naruto's home. They decide to spend the rest of the day readying their supplies for the exams. Kazue packs food, organizes and sharpens weapons while Maru runs over his vast variety of techniques. They exchange messages. By time they are ready, it's almost time for dinner. They explore Kohana, looking for a small treat for s.

They run into Shikamaru. "You two are loose?" the chunin asks.

"Yeah. We are going to become Leaf Ninja. The Chunin Exams are tomorrow, and that will kinda be our entry ceremony. Right now we are just looking for something to eat." Kazue says. Again, Maru falls behind his partner, scowl returning to his face and brain automatically analysing the environment. What he's doing is completely different for what his transformed appearance should be doing.

"I'm glad I'm not a procter while that thing is in the exams. That would be such a drag. No offense, of course." Shikamaru says. He starts to move on but then stops to ask," Ah whatever, you're hopelessly lost anyways. Wanna come join me and the gang?" Kazue agrees to come join him and Team Eight to eat out. Even though Shikamaru doesn't strike Maru as hostile at all, he keeps his guard up. Shikamaru leads them to a restaurant in an awkward silence. They get to the restaurant without a problem. They encounter similar resistance as they walk in and take seats next to Team Asuma.

"Hey guys. This is the girl we brought back from yesterday's mission. Her name is Kazue. The little boy is a transformed version of her little demon partner. She's going to become a Leaf Ninja." Shikamaru introduces her.

Kazue bows and says,"Nice to meet you all. My partner's name is Maru." Maru doesn't bow, still distant and wary of the ninja he can't bring himself to trust. Kazue and Maru sit next to Ino.

"Hey I'm Choji Akimichi. Muscle of the team. Always their when you need something smashed." the future head of the clan says happily.

"And I'm Ino Yamanaka." Ino says curtly, watching Maru as if trying to unveil his true appearance.

A waiter shows up not long afterwards and all of them order food. Kazue orders based off Choji's recommendation. While they eat discussion continues, starting with Ino's question,"So, Kazue, do you know when your first mission is?"

Kazue answers," Nope. The Chunin Exams start tomorrow, so that will have me busy for a while."

"You're still a genin?" Choji asks.

"Yeah, I kinda held Maru back a couple years, so I wanted to give him time to catch up." Kazue says.

"Well how long is a couple years?" Ino asks.

"Eleven." She answers, beginning to twiddle her fingers again.

"Eleven! You mean the little guy has only been fighting for four years?" Choji asks, shocked.

"Only three." Kazue corrects, face starting to turn red from embarrassment.

"And you think he'll be fine for the exams?" Ino asks.

Kazue just nods a few times, to overwhelmed to speak anymore.

"Aw guys, lay off her. I'm sure she spent the day training. She'll probably make to the final stage." Shikamaru says.

"Ooh, leaping to her defense. Got a little crush on the newbie?" Choji asks in a sing-song voice.

"No way man. Women are such a drag." Shikamaru answers.

"Amen!" Choji says.

"Hey!" Ino protests.

Team Asuma goes into a friendly bout of bickering. Kazue and Maru remain silent and eat. After a while, Kazue is included on their conversation. They don't talk on any serious matters, and before they know it, it's dark. They all go their separate ways, with Kazue declining an escort back by both Ino and Shikamaru.

As they walk back, Maru rests on Kazue's head. They are both lost in thought, until Kazue starts talking," You can let a few of them in, you know. Everyone here isn't an enemy I think this is going to be a good place for us. Think you could manage?"

Maru answers her solemnly,"It's not going to happen."

"Alright." Kazue says, not willing to push her partner. They remain lost in thought for the rest of the way back. Once they return to Naruto's home, they decide to train. Maru helps Kazue practice her kekkei genkai until they decide to sleep. They decide the floor is a safer bet than Naruto's bed.

The next morning they ready themselves for the day quickly, and head over to the building where the Chunin Exams are to be started. Once they get there, Maru undoes his transformation jutsu, getting many looks from the genin from all villages. Kazue ignores the looks, feigning ignorance. They sign up without issue. Eventually, all of the genin gather in one large room, as well as the attending Kage and the proctors.. A ninja from The Village Hidden in the Rain announces," We'll be doing these exams a bit differently this year. Because so many of you have been here before, and are expected to pass this time and so few overall, we'll be placing you in teams of two. Come get a slip with a number on it. The person with the same number is your partner."

With more than a bit of complaining, the lowest ranking of ninja are reorganized into groups of two.

While this goes on Gaara questions the Hokage,"Was this really necessary?"

Tsunade explains,"Yeah, we only had thirty people in this exam. Counting that new girl I told you about. Everyone is holding people back in fear of the Akatsuki. We're going to rush the exams this time around too."

At first, Gaara just grunts as a response. He didn't have an issue with how they decided to run the exams. Especially after how the one he had hosted ended up. "That girl and her pet you told me about, where are they?" he asks. Tsunade points them out, and Gaara studies both of them.

While the Kage talk among themselves, Kazue and Maru find their partner. It turns out to be a ninja from the Leaf Village. He is as old as Naruto and slightly shorter. His hair is dark,and be had a buzz cut. He's wearing a sleeveless shirt, with a fishnet shirt underneath. He wears unremarkable black pants and regular ninja shoes. He has a sword in a scabbard on his waist. As he realizing he and Kazue are a team he complains,"Of course my teammates would stay together and I would get stuck with the freaks."

Kazue's mood instantly turns sour, though Maru, already focused, isn't fazed. Maru's mind works at maximum speed, judging other teams based off how well they work together, confidence, skill they've shown off, etc. However, Maru focuses on his new teammate.

Kazue's face begins to form a glare as she speaks in an equally rude tone,"Introductions normally go something along the lines of hmmm, I dunno saying your name? For example: I'm Kazue, and this is Maru. You may want to take notes."

"I'm Okotte Haisha. Try not to stab me in the back, foreigner" Kazue's teammate says nonchalantly.

Kazue ignores him, but sits down next to him. Maru sits on Maru's other side, giving Okotte a death glare. Okotte sees it, and returns it, even though he can't match the rage in Maru's eyes. Both shinobi and Digimon are able to restrain themselves, for now.

Their patience isn't tested for long. A procter leads them away from the Kage, sensei, and other proctors, not counting the dozen proctors who follow them.

For the first stage of their exam, they are put through a test akin to the first stage of three years ago. The prospective chunin are spread randomly in rows of five, and given nine hard questions. They are told that both team members must score at least five, or both of them fail. They are told the same rules for cheating as three years ago. The extra proctors watch the test-takers from the left and right of the room.

Kazue is able to answer two of the questions by herself, and Maru knows both of those and one more. Maru draws the correct answer in the air, and Kazue just copies it onto her paper. After a lot of thinking and problem-solving mostly Maru's side, they are able to figure out one more.

Maru speaks at a tone that Kazue is barely able to hear, despite the fact that he speaks into her ear,"There are at least five new people here. I don't know who, but fifteen teams do not need seven columns."

Kazue responds at an equally low voice, but Maru's superior ears pick it up,"Go act a fool and get some answers while you're at it."

"I was thinking the same thing." Maru says with a grin.

Maru starts his wingless flight, flipping into the air and not coming down. While he does so he declares,"This is boring!" He changes his voice his serious, no-nonsense tone to one that is a complete inverse.

Maru cross his legs as if meditating, not dropping the littlest bit from the air. Over his open palms, small red and pink fire appears. The two flames spin around Maru, distracting some of the test takers. When everyone gets tired of him and returns to their tests, he flies back to a random ninja's desk. The Digimon whispers his victim's ear as loud as he can," No no no no. The answer to number one is 5E. 5E! It's not that hard!" Everyone knows that 5E doesn't make sense as an answer for the first question, yet Maru keeps it up for a few minutes. Then, he goes to another random person each time, it ends up being a kunoichi. Again, he whispers so the whole room can hear. 'Hey, you know that boy right there?" he points to the shinobi he was just messing with and continues,"he says he likes you. He says your eyes look like stars and that he could just get lost in your hair." He then goes to another kunoichi. This time, he says nothing, and just plays with the girl's two ponytails. After a couple minutes of that, the Digimon decides to go bother someone else.

That someone else happens to be Okotte. Maru lays over the Haisha's desk as if he was trying to seduce the shinobi. "Hey there sexy." Maru purrs, not even bothering to whisper. Okotte flips the grip he has on his pencil and attempts to stab Maru. One of Maru's pink and red fire appears, shortening the pencil to annoyingly small and unearthly fire eating lead until what's write able is barely flat. Maru also singes his paper before the Digimon takes his leave, leaving the answers to all of the questions, just hard to read and upside down. Then, Maru returns to a silently giggling Kazue.

"You're the best." Kazue whispers.

"You're just now figuring that out?" Maru asks, smiling. Maru draws in the air as if he was directing music. Flames dance in the air in the form of answers. By time Maru is finished, Kazue has nine answers.

"Two of em are wrong, but it looks good." Maru says.

Kazue tries to figure out the last couple questions, while Maru pretends to nap next to the main procter. The time runs out, and they announce a final, whole team passes or whole team fails. A total of ten genin cop out.

The question is asked," Hypothetical situation- You and your team is out on the field. The enemy comes, and takes one of your members hostage. You know you and your remaining members can finish your mission, and you also know you and your remaining members can rescue your teammate. You're not sure if you can do both. What do you do? Write your answer on the back of your paper."

Their is a collective murmur amongst the genin, and then they write their answers. Kazue writes _Teammates come first. Divide forces if available._ The main proctor walks around, picking up each paper individually, reading the back and saying,"Pass." Kazue and Okotte exchange glares until the procter passes Okotte. Everyone passes, but a few genin get glares from the procter.

Once the test giver returns to the front of the room, he announces," Congratulations, all of you pass. If you noticed, there were five procters disguised as genins in the test. Three of them had wrong answers, and two had correct ones. Phase 2 of the test starts tomorrow. It's a three day part. You'll be given a Heaven or Earth scroll. And you have to find whatever scroll you don't have and get to the tower in the center of the Forest of Death. If your partner can't continue during any part of the exam, then you and your partner will be disqualified. If you and your partner aren't in the center with at least one Earth and at least one Heaven scroll, you fail. Tomorrow morning you'll be given a scroll and start in a predetermined entrance to the forest. Be their at six o'clock. Rest until tomorrow."

Each genin team is given a location on the map to memorize, then dismissed. Okotte goes to his genin teammates. Kazue ends up returning to the field she sparred against Team Guy in. Team Guy isn't there. They spend the afternoon laughing at Maru's antics, then they train. When it comes time for Kazue to practice her kekkei genkai, Maru has a few shadow clones attack her while she uses it to evade. After few hours, they return to Naruto's, they eat and sleep. The next morning, they wake appropriately early are completely prepared for the test's beginning.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer- I don't own Naruto or Digimon**

 **I think the issue was I forgot how the site worked and originally had the story in the wrong file. When I converted it to the Story type I messed up or something. Anyway crap like that shouldn't happen again. Chapter five and six are here though(watch me put them in the wrong order or do something else dumb)**

Okotte and Kazue are given an Earth scroll. Once they are out of the earshot of the proctor that let them in, Okotte says," I'll be taking the scroll. I'm not trusting a freak and a foreigner." Kazue scowls, but tosses him the scroll.

Okotte leads Kazue and her partner for about half an hour before stopping on a large tree. "Here's how this is going to happen. We're going to draw out as many teams as possible until we get a Heaven scroll, and then we're going to head to the tower and I never have to see your butt again. While we are fighting, you are not going to hold me back by getting in my way or getting hurt."

Kazue just rolls her eyes and crosses her arms. Okotte takes off, and Kazue follows. They spend the day pretending to be off guard as they travel. However, they don't run into anyone, and find roots of a enormous tree to eat prepackaged food, then sleep. Despite him promising not to fall asleep in front of the foreigners, he falls asleep before both Kazue and Maru.

"He's going to attack you at some point. You know that right? I should just kill him now." Maru says seriously, staring at Okotte's sleeping body.

"You know you can't do that. Besides after the exams, we'll probably never see him again. Even if we do, we'll be Leaf Ninja. Just don't worry about it. If worse comes to worse, we'll lock blades and you can burn him from behind." Kazue says, petting Kazue's head as she does talks.

"I know, I know. Can I at least go and get a Heaven scroll right now? It would be easy." Maru asks.

"This is a test for me and the jerk. Normally I would let you though. If I let you do most the work, then I probably won't be passed. Sorry. We'll have to do the same for whatever the Kage watch us for too." Kazue says.

"Nope. The Kage are definitely here to sit on their rears and talk." Maru predicts.

That makes Kazue smile, however, she doesn't respond. Both of them fall asleep soon after.

The next morning, they wake to find Okotte already up. "It's about time." He says sourly," I was going to leave you. Was gonna hope another team found you and beat you good."

"And I was thinking of removing your head while you slept and feeding it to Maru." Kazue spits back.

The team eats, glaring at each other the entire time. They emerge and begin hunting for more scrolls half an hour later. While they are running from large tree branch from large tree branch, they hear a resounding explosion only a few hundred meters away..

"Maru, check it out." Kazue orders. Maru disappears into the foliage as Kazue and Okotte slow their pace.

When they sense another team ahead of them, they freeze. But they find themselves staring into the eyes of another team.

"Heaven scroll." One of them says, holding the scroll up as proof.

"Earth scroll." Kazue says. With a little grin, she points at Okotte and says," Moody here has it."

Okotte scowls, and all four ninja jump into action. The one with the scroll darts away, and Okotte gives chase. Kazue and the remaining ninja charge each other. The opposing shinobi starts with a kick, which Kazue blocks with her and returns with a punch, which is barely dodged. The two ninja do an exchange purely of taijutsu. Kazue quickly realizes that she is marginally better at taijutsu and has a speed advantage significant enough to overwhelm her opponent. The exchange continues, with Kazue pushing the other ninja back. Eventually the other ninja decides that he has enough bruises and makes starts fleeing. Kazue gives chase. The other ninja leads her to where the others are fighting. Kazue sees Okotte struggling against a barrage of earth style jutsu. Recognizing she needs to end the fight quickly, she draws her sword. Her previous foe curses and turns around, drawing a kunai. They engage each other again, this time with more ferocity coming from both of them. However, Kazue quickly gains the advantage, putting her foe on the defensive. At the same Okotte is being similarly overwhelmed by his opponent. He tries to defend against earth style jutsu with little success, taking multiple chunks of earth to the chest. Maru arrives upon the screen. Kazue notices immediately and yells," Go help Okotte!" However, Maru doesn't even have to think to disobey. Under the combined assault of Kazue and Maru, Kazue's foe falls. They run towards Okotte who's completely trapped in the ground. They knock his opponent with the two person attack, Fire Style: Greater Fireball Jutsu. Kazue loots the scroll and tosses it from a newly freed Okotte.

"What the hell was that!" Okotte yells. Then he directs his fury at Maru," That guy almost had me! Kazue here was fine!"

"I care for friends. I don't care for teammates. Kazue is a friend. You are a teammate and a fool." Maru states simply, with finality and steel in his voice.

"Freaks!" Okotte yells in frustration, before slumping against a tree to tend to his wounds.

"What did you find back there?" Kazue asks.

"Three teams have teamed up. Only thing threatening is the numbers. We should just hit the tower and be done with the exam." Maru reports, his voice almost happy.

"We should move. If we can set a good pace we should finish today." Kazue says.

"Yeah-yeah." Okotte replies.

A few minutes later, they read out again at top speed. As they near the tower, they run past another team. The other team tries to stop them and slow them down, but are ultimately too slow. Once they reach the tower, they turn in their scroll and mutually hope never to see one another ever again. By rules of the Chunin Exams, they are forced to stay in the tower until the second phase was completed. A day and a half later, the passing genin are gathered again. Their number has dwindled down to eight. They are told that the third phase of the exam is in four days, and that they'll be fighting each other. Kazue notices Okotte talking to two other genin.

"Think that's his team?" Kazue asks.

"Probably. Good thing these matches are one on one." Maru says.

After the genin are dismissed, Kazue and Maru return to Naruto's place. When they get there, they find Naruto eating ramen.

"Hey! Where have you two been." Naruto asks as they come in the door.

"Just completed the second phase of the Chunin Exams." Kazue answers.

"Wait what?! Chunin Exams! I can't believed I missed them again!" Naruto yells.

"How did your mission go?" Kazue asks, choosing not to respond to his little outburst. Her question leaves Naruto a but depressed.

"It was a bust." He answers.

"What happened?" Kazue answers while she prepares fresh food.

"Well there's this person named Sasuke. He's my best friend… but he left the village about three years ago so he could get vengeance on his brother. I've been trying to get him back ever since. And… And I failed again!" he says, clenching his fist as the emotions build up.

Naruto ends up telling Kazue and Maru his history with Sasuke. Maru gathers every possible detail from the Uchiha, but stays silent the entire time. Talking to Kazue ends up strengthening Naruto's resolve. All three fall asleep soon after.

The next morning, Naruto decides to part of spend his day off helping Kazue train for the fight in three end up wasting time when Naruto asks Kazue to recount how the exam went so far. After Kazue tells her story, Naruto acts as her sparring partner in taijutsu only matches. Meanwhile, Maru develops more jutsu while he keeps a watchful eye on Kazue.

Eventually, Naruto leaves for the hot springs. Down to just two people training, they decide to practice their ninjutsu on each other, with Kazue's somewhat limited knowledge being severely outclassed by Maru's vast arsenal. The day ends with Kazue's practice of her kekkei genkia.

They next day starts in a somewhat similar fashion. However, as the ninja are ready to begin their days, they hear a knock at the door. Naruto opens the door to find Gaara standing outside his door.

"Gaara!" Naruto yells surprised.

"It's good to see you, Naruto." Gaara says, a small smile crossing his face.

Then, the two are silent. Gaara and Naruto just look at each other. After almost half of minute of awkward silence Naruto asks," Well. Um. Gaara. What are you here for?"

"I was told the girl from the destroyed village was here. May I speak to her?" Gaara requests.

"No problem." He answers. Then, he yells to his guest,"Kazue! The Kazekage is here to see you." Then, the blonde leaves his home, going off to spend the day with his team.

Kazue and Maru go to the still open door. Maru hangs back a bit, but keeps the Fifth Kazekage within eyesight.

"I'm Kazue and this is Maru." Kazue introduces herself with a bow.

"Gaara." is all the Kazekage says.

Another silence envelops Gaara's conversation. This time, instead of staring almost blankly, Gaara openly studies Kazue's face. Kazue notices, and eventually asks," Is there something I can do to help you, Lord Kazekage?"

"I came to see your eyes." Gaara responds.

"Huh?" Kazue gasps. Gaara's answers confuses her, and a little blood rushes to her cheeks.

After a moment, Gaara explains," I needed to make sure the hate wasn't in your eyes. I've had the hate. I've seen others with it. I don't want it spread. The hate isn't in your eyes. Your eyes… they're filled with something lighter. Make sure it stays that way. Don't let the hate take over. It'll destroy your life." He begins to walk away, but he stops, looks over his shoulder and speaks to Maru," And you, little one. The hate is already in your eyes. But there is something else, something stronger. Make sure it stays that way." Then, the Kazekage addresses both of them," If you ever feel the hate overcoming you… come to me. And if you need me… I'll be there." Then, Gaara walks off.

Kazue and Maru ponder Gaara's words for a few minutes. Then the gather themselves and head off to train again. Like the day before, they primarily spend time going over ninjutsu, but spend some time focusing on developing Kazue's kekkei genkai. However, this time Maru trains Kazue on resisting genjutsu before going into ninjutsu. They go to bed early so they are rested for the third phase of the Chunin Exam.

The next day, the testing genin are gathered in a large room where they are shown the bracket in which they would be fighting. Kazue had the first match of round one, and Okotte the last.


	6. Chapter 6

Half an hour later, Kazue and Maru were standing in the stadium, which had been enlarged since three years ago. Their opponent is a shinobi from the village hidden in the rocks. Kazue's opponent introduces himself as Rokku, and Kazue introduces both herself and Maru. The match begins, and Maru gets out of his foe's line of sight as quickly as he can. When the ninja begins to turn, Kazue throws a couple of shuriken to refocus his attention. Once the earth ninja is between Kazue and Maru, Kazue charges without drawing her sword. The earth ninja waits until she's close to spring into action. His first move launch a small chunk of earth from the ground right in front of Kazue directly at her with a wave of his hands. With Kazue thrown off guard by the attack, she's quickly forced on defensive. Her opponent attacks with a style incorporating both taijutsu and seemingly handsign less ninjutsu. In the small pauses in his offensives, small chunks of ground launches itself at Kazue. Only Kazue's greater speed allows her to stay largely unarmed. Maru follows behind, ready to help when he deems Kazue in any real danger of losing the match.

Kazue soon has an idea, and instead of trying to find an opening, she finds the first opportunity to leap backwards. When she finally gets away, she does a few quick hand signs for Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu. Maru waits until the fireball gets a few meters away to perform a ninjutsu of his own. He performs Fireball Replication Jutsu without the rock ninja knowing, and four more fireballs appear, two on each side of the original. His opportunity for dodging suddenly narrowed, he accepts his fate and tries to get the ground underneath him to leap to his defense. His only partially succeeds, and a fireball sends him sprawling to on the ground. When he rises, his clothes are smouldering, but he is mostly unharmed. Kazue retreats to the grassy part of battlefield. Her opponent turns his attention to Maru. Maru easily evades his assaults and returns to Kazue's side.

"That thing could probably this guy on by himself." Gaara notes.

"And Kazue isn't letting him. At least she knows who's being tested." Tsunade says.

Back on the ground, the rock ninja is unwilling to be on the grass and loose the advantage the terrain gave him. He settles for tossing shuriken. While Maru makes a show of blocking them, Kazue performs another Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu. This time, Maru doesn't duplicate it, and it ends up being evaded. Two more fireballs come, and both are dodged.

The rock ninja gets frustrated, and decides to charge Kazue. Maru maneuvers behind him. The partner's opponent tries his combination of taijutsu and ninjutsu again, but the ninjutsu is slower and weaker to the point that it makes his fighting ability worse. Naturally, he switches to pure taijutsu. He and Kazue go back and forth, switching from offensive to defensive. While Kazue is a bit faster than her opponent, her opponent is both better at taijutsu and using a style that counters her own well. Rokku allows Kazue to land a hard kick to his ribs, but catches her leg before she can retract it. Rokku yanks and throws her. When she lands she rolls and stands, but doesn't realize she's off the grass. Rokku performs a ninjutsu the causes a ring of earth to separate itself from the ground and bind itself around Kazue, keeping her arms restrained behind her back.

"Gotcha." Rokku says.

"Fine!" Kazue yells, confusing Rokku. His confusion is alleviated when he turns to see Maru stopping mid-charge. As the digimon retreats, Rokku returns his attention to Kazue. Kazue tries to break free of Rokku's jutsu with brute force. She fails. Rokku advances. Maru follows, shortening the distance between himself and his foe. Kazue backs up and fumbles with her scabbard at the same time, trying to free her blade. She manages to tip her scabbard so the sword inside falls, but fails to catch the sword. It falls on the ground. Kazue backpedals quickly, and Rokku begins to sprint. Mid-retreat, Kazue jumps performs the hand signs for a fireball. This fireball is unusually large, and when it hits the ground, thick black smoke erupts. Rokku doesn't wait for it to clear, performing a ninjutsu that turns the ground in front of him into thick spears that fly through the smoke. As the last few disappear into the smoke, Rokku feels a kunai at his neck.

"Gotta love substitution jutsu." Kazue says from behind him.

"How?" Rokku asks, shocked.

"Do you'd really think I would drop my sword on accident? Almost never, and certainly not on the draw." Kazue answers. As the smoke clears, Kazue's sword is visible laying on Rokku's ring ninjutsu.

Rokku forfeits and Kazue is advanced to the next round. Kazue and Maru return to the stands to watch their future opponent fight. A nurse comes and tends to Kazue's wounds. Both genin make it to the floor without issue. Kazue and Maru recognize one of them as one of Okotte's teammates. The other one is the youngest out of testing genin. The fight begins with both ninja charging each other. When they clash, they both dash back, preparing ninjutsu attacks. However, the younger genin collapses, his right knee giving out. He immediately surrenders.

"Hey Maru." Kazue says, grabbing her partner's attention.

"That's me." Maru states.

"You could probably hold back less next round. They've seen I'm not helpless fighting without you."Kazue says.

"Sweet." Maru says, genuinely smiling. Maru looks as if he's going to celebrate a bit more, but he hears someone coming and sombers immediately.

As the next contestants make their way down, Kazue hears someone yell," Kazue!" She turns to see Naruto running towards her. "That was an awesome fight! You've got this in bag!" He says.

"Hope you're right." Kazue says.

The next round is between Okotte's other teammate and another earth ninja. It is Okotte's teammate is outmatched a few seconds after the beginning. Unlike Rokku, this ninja uses large earth chunks to hurt his foe. Kazue and Naruto discuss strategy while Maru watches the fight. Okotte's teammate loses quickly. Sakura calls Naruto away from Kazue as the fourth match begins. The fourth match is Okotte versus another sand ninja.

The Kage have a small discussion over this match.

"This one looks… old." Gaara starts.

"This is his fourth time in the exam. He actually won the last one, but he deemed too immature to become chunin." Tsunade says.

Okotte draws his sword from the beginning. His foe pulls out two tonfas. The shinobi charge. Okotte swings first, and is blocked by a tonfa. His opponent tries to hit Okotte with the other tonfa, but Okotte pushes against him with his blade, making him stagger backwards. As he recovers, Okotte resumes his defenses. This time their weapons do not lock. After a furious minute of fighting, they both have several small cuts. They disengage, both looking to catch their breaths and find a way to win. Okotte smirks as he has an idea. He performs several one handed hand signs. With a puff of smoke two swords appear, floating in the air. There is one on his right and the other is on his left. They are roughly two feet away from his side, and a foot in front of him. His foe eats a food pill. He charges, speed dramatically increased. The blades try to hit him, but he spins and knocks both of him. His keeps running, knocking Okotte down with a savage strike. He assumes the swords summoned by Okotte's ninjutsu have disappeared, and goes to finish Okotte. However, the swords don't, and instead impale Okotte's foe's legs to the ground. Okotte rises, smirking. As he casually walks toward his grounded foe, said foe drops his weapons, to try to remove the swords in his legs. Although he manages to start pulling one out, it just puts itself back. He gives up trying to remove the blades and picks his weapons back up.

"You're still fighting?" Okotte asks. Then he says with a smirk," Well I guess I'll finish you quick." He half-heartedly swings his sword a couple times. His defiant opponent blocks the blows. It's not until Okotte walks behind him and puts his blade to his neck that he surrenders.

Okotte leaves the battlefield and Kazue returns to it. Okotte's remaining teammate also returns. Before the match starts, Kazue and Maru take the chance to examine him. He's short, with raven colored hair. His entire body excretes confidence. He has several kunai on his clothes, tied down by some cloths Kazue can't identify. He doesn't have the normal one weapons pouch on his thigh. He has one on both his thighs, and upper arm.

The match starts and he says," You really don't stand a chance, freak." He grabs one of the kunai from his clothes and tosses it up into the air. When its ascent stops, a little parachute unravels. Kazue and Maru ready defenses when they see the seal attached to the parachute.

"It's a wind seal. It'll be falling slowly the whole time." Maru states.

"Kunai Clone Jutsu!" Their foe yells. The one kunai multiplies, and a great amount of kunai slowly fall to the ground.

"This guy isn't as good as that Ten-Ten girl from before. But he's got to have something else up his sleeve. It doesn't look like he can drop those kunai on us though. I'll keep an eye out." Maru strategizes.

Kazue nods in confirmation. The partners charge. Their foe draws several kunai. Once they get within roughly twenty meters he jumps back, throwing three kunai as he retreats. Kazue and Maru are able to tell they were poorly aimed to the point that he wasn't aiming for them. Wary of tricks, they stop, ready to leap out in case of a sudden attack. The three kunai hit the ground in front of them. The points of impact sends out waves of energy as if a large monster stomped on it. Kazue protects raises her arms to block the spray of dirt.

"I didn't see anything on those kunai! What about you?" Kazue asks.

"They wasn't anything on them… could he of imbued them with his chakra?" Maru ponders.

"Lucky guess. But you're both doomed!" their foe exclaims.

Kazue and Maru charge him again. This time, their opponent throws multiple kunai as he retreats. Some are aimed directly at Kazue, while others are aimed at the terrain around her. She manages to dodge them all. Her foe mixes in shuriken and starts throwing a few kunai as arks instead of directly at his target. Once Kazue gets within fifteen meters, he hits one of his kunai thrown in an arc with one thrown in a straight line. The resulting blast of energy knocks Kazue off-balance.

"Gotcha!" Kazue's opponent yells. He performs Shadow Clone Jutsu. Clones appear in an arc above Kazue, with the last appearing on the ground behind them. Each of throws a chakra enhanced kunai at the rising Kazue. The move's flaw is that none of them wait for all of the clones to be ready to throw, with the original throwing before all the clones appear. Realizing the danger she is in, Kazue activates her kekkei genkia. With the exception of the last, all of the kunai pass through harmlessly, most of which destroy the ground under her. However, she accidentally turns her kekkei genkia off, and the kunai hits her in the back. It sends her tumbling past her opponent. Said foe tries to advance on Kazue, but Maru prevents him with a barrage of fire. Kazue manages to stop before her momentum runs out.

"You okay?" Maru asks.

"Ye...Yeah." Kazue answers. She's panting, and has several bruises swelling from bouncing on the charge again, although this time Maru launches several small fireballs at his enemy. Kazue allows herself to be caught in the same move They attempt another charge. Kazue allows herself to be caught in the same move. However, this time instead of trying to get up, she crouches and throws a kunai at her foe. The kunai hit each other, causing a premature release of energy, knocking Kazue on her back and sending her foe back less violently than Kazue was launched. Okotte's teammate still manages to get two clones out before his and Kazue's kunai hit, but Maru blocks the kunai they throw with his small, pink and red fireballs. Kazue and Maru's opponent gets up and retreats to the other side of the field. Kazue notices the cloned kunai are only a few feet above her head now.

"Kazue… he's going to try to get those kunai next to us and throw kunai at them so he doesn't have to hit us. He'll probably use clones to." Maru says.

"So we need to finish this quick or make a safe zone." Kazue says.

"Nothing will be safe. He'll just put more chakra into his projectiles." Maru says.

"Think the smoke fireball I used earlier will work?" Kazue asks, starting another charge.

"Nah, he'll just throw blind." Maru answers while his wingless flight has him right next to Kazue.

Their foe tries to slows them with shurikens. He throws several of them on curves, giving

up on his arc and clone trick. Again, Maru deflects several of them as he moves. This time, they slow roughly three-quarters of the way their to perform a Fire Style: Great Fireball jutsu. Their foe manages to counter by throwing two shuriken in two separate curves to impact each other and the fireball and the same time. It manages to dissipate the fireball. They continue moving, managing to reach Okotte's teammate. He tries to defend himself, but Kazue's fist goes right past his guard and hits him in the face. A savage kick knocks him to the ground. However, as he falls, he manages to draw a shuriken, imbue it with chakra, and throw it. It misses Kazue, but hits one of the kunai overhead. The resulting blast knocks Kazue and her partner to the ground and knocks their foe a few feet. Maru is the first to scramble to his feet and grabs Okotte's teammate's head as he tries to get up. Maru floats up and swings his arms between his legs, burying a head in the ground. By time Kazue's opponent starts getting up again, Kazue is standing in front of him, sword drawn and pointed at his face as he looks up at her on his knees. He forfeits. Kazue and Maru return to the stands, again tended by nurses.

Okotte ends up facing another ninja who specializes in sword. He faces a younger genin who has a larger sword. They both draw blades and charge. Okotte ends up with an advantage quickly, facing a foe who specializes in strength but being almost as strong and significantly faster. His foe ends up barely being able to defend himself from Okotte strikes. Okotte ends the fight quickly, without any jutsu being used. Afterwards he looks at Kazue's direction, not even waiting for her to be called down.

* * *

 **A little author's note- If you don't like how little fighting Maru is doing, don't worry. Maru will be doing a lot more fighting later.**


	7. Chapter 7

Kazue and Maru take their time coming down. They start discussing strategy as they go down.

"You versus him in a duel, what happens?" Maru asks.

"He's a better fighter. I'm faster though. It'll be a while before he lands a hit." Kazue answers.

"How much do you want me to do?" Maru asks.

"Let's hit him with that trick we just practiced." Kazue answers, grinning at her partner.

"Ugh. Fine. You should just let me roast him through." Maru says.

"If I get in trouble, don't hold back." Kazue says.

They stop wasting time and quickly reach the bottom.

"I'm going to walk the floor with you freaks." Okotte says as the match begins. His sword is already drawn.

"You'll need a lot more than you to do that." Kazue responds, drawing her sword.

Maru stays silent, skirting around, beginning to maneuver around the two sword-wielding ninja charge. Okotte starts with a heavy downward slash, and Kazue knocks it away with her sword. Kazue then tries to stab Okotte, but her blow is deflected. The two fight on, both of them switching from being on the offensive to being on the defensive. Maru stays behind Okotte, just like he did in the first fight. Both sword wielding shinobi disengage and jump back at the same time, both performing rapid hand signs. In Okotte's case, he does one-handed hand signs. Kazue spits a fireball, and she misses. Okotte's sword glows red as if it was just being forged. Okotte swings his sword a couple times. He would look quite ridiculous if he didn't have a whip-like string of fire coming from it. Luckily for Kazue, he turns out to be quite inexperienced in using it. Kazue's able to dodge the fire whip as he raises his arms and swings it at her. Then he tries performing a sideways strike, attempting to use his much extending range to try to chop his opponent in half, even if it only has the strength to sear flesh. Kazue takes two steps in the whip's direction and jumps over it. Okotte brings his hands up to try to use it like a proper whip again, but this time Maru catches it. Okotte looks back to see the fire being sucked up into Maru's hand. Okotte attempts to go after the Impmon, but his target just flies backwards. Okotte has to turn and focus on Kazue, who charges him as he goes after Maru. The duel starts again.

After a solid minute swordplay, Okotte fakes a breach in his guard to try to injure Kazue as she tries to take advantage of it. She does, but not in the way Okotte expects. She takes a step back and does a couple of quick hand signs. It ends up being a substitution jutsu with Maru, who got right behind Okotte when he saw Kazue take a step back. Okotte ends up feeling Kazue sword tap the side of his head.

"Surrender." Kazue demands. Okotte puts both his hands in the air, but doesn't drop his sword. He starts to turn, and tries to bat Kazue's sword away. However, he rushes and fumbles it. Luckily for Okotte, he ends up accidentally throwing his sword at Kazue's. Kazue also makes a mistake, knocking Okotte's sword right back into his hand instead of deflecting it across the field. Kazue decides to put some space between herself and her opponent, cursing at herself for being so foolish.

Okotte establishes control of his sword, and taunts," I don't know about you, but Leaf Shinobi never give up that easily!"

Maru wipes the smirk of his face by flying up behind him and giving him three rapid kicks to the back of his face. Okotte whirls on Maru, furious that the Digimon touched him. Maru easily dodges Okotte's attempts to hit him, looking bored. Maru is flying in front of Okotte, going a bit left,right,up or down depending on where Okotte attempts to strike. Maru looks over Okotte's shoulder to see her telling him what to do through hand signals. When she's finished, Maru nods devilishly, and turns his full attention to the still raging Okotte. He starts to take a more active role in the battle, deflecting swords with his feet and quickly coming in, kicking and getting out, doing nothing more than annoying blows. Then, after letting Okotte swing at him a few times, he flies back, not dissimilar to Kazue's earlier step back. Maru makes hand signs. Okotte thinks the Digimon will try a fireball jutsu and lunges forward, putting all he has into one attack. However Maru substitutes with Kazue instead of spitting a fiery death at Okotte. Kazue appears right in the path of Okotte's blade. However, she activates her kekkei genkai to avoid the attack. Okotte's attack passes through her harmlessly. Kazue's takes advantage of Okotte's vulnerability. She slashes, cutting Okotte. The blade enters his skin at the shoulder, and follows his arm, cutting deep into muscle. Her sword leaves him after it cuts his palm, ruining his sword arm. She switches to a reserve grip and uses her momentum to follow-up by stabbing through Okotte's left hand. Maru grabs Okotte's foot, and throws it hard, tripping him.

Kazue kneels over him, positioning her sword right above his neck. "Do something now." She says victoriously. Okotte growls from underneath her. The proctor calls the match in Kazue's favor. Okotte is carried away on a stretcher.

Maru's body emits a bright, light blue light. The light takes the form of a sphere. Inside, Maru's body changes. When the light dissipates, Maru is no longer an Impmon. He has taken the form of a wand less Wizardmon.

"It's about time. You couldn't do that a couple hours ago?" Kazue asks, a playful grin on her face.

"You know you just want me to do everything." Maru says. Since his evolution, his voice has become something so very close to monotonous and emotionless. The emotions are still there, but his voice can no longer properly emulate them.

Kazue notices the proctor walking towards them. Without warning, the proctor stops moving mid-step. Their isn't any sign of movement from the older ninja.

Up in the Kage's podium, Gaara notices and says,"Something's wrong." The stopper for his gourd pops off, but Gaara's sand flies out of its container to catch it, preventing it from making anymore noise. Temari and Kankuro don't notice the same thing Gaara does, but begin readying themselves for combat all the same.

Back on the ground, Kazue and her Wizardmon partner notice the proctor's shadow has changed. It has become several shades lighter than a shadow under the three o'clock sun has any right to be. It also is not longer the shape of the proctor, and is instead the shape of a Devimon.

"So some of you did survive. Impressive, but irrelevant. Die with the knowledge that you were to weak to save yourselves. And this village." the Devimon states seriously. Then, in sharp contrast to his serious voice, he laughs like a maniac.

As the proctor's shadow shrinks back and darkens into what it should be, Gaara appears, riding a small cloud of his own sand. "What's happening?" he asks.

Before Kazue can answer, Maru speaks," Kazue. Problem."

Kazue glances at Maru to see the Wizardmon looking up. She looks up to see several Devidramon descending on the arena. The evil dragons don't descend in unison, instead they brainlessly glide down at differing speeds. Some still look small because they are so high up. Gaara does the same. He immediately sends his sand into ground to create more sand. "How do we fight those things?" Gaara asks Kazue.

Kazue's response isn't immediate. However once she does respond, she does so confidently," Elemental Jutsu. Regular weapons won't do much, and neither will poison or genjutsu."

At the same time, the people in the Kage's podium have also noticed. Temari and Kankuro go join their brother. Tsunade begins to organize an evacuation.

As Gaara's siblings arrive, lightning beings to flow between Maru's hands. As the ninja prepare and the Devidramon arrive, it gets more and more intense as more power is put into Maru's move. "Kankuro. Leave." Gaara orders.

"What!? If you think I'm leaving you to fight these things with just Temari? You must be crazy!" Kankuro exclaims.

"Your style of fighting is just going to get you killed here. I'm ordering you to go organize containment. Now!" Gaara says. After barking the last word, he adds in a softer tone," And as Kazekage, I give you my word I'll be safe."

Kankuro gives out a growl of frustration, but obeys his younger brother.

Maru unleashes the attack he has been storing. Several yellow lightning bolts leap from his hands to the closest Devidramon. So much power has been put into the attack that Maru is able to maintain it for several seconds. It blinds everyone who dares to look at the attack. The victim of Maru's attack lets out a roar of pain, but ultimately falls and dies, demonic flesh thoroughly cooked by the attack.

One of the Devidramon spits a blast of unnaturally dark flame at the crowd. Luckily for the people, Kakashi is in the stands, and performs a wind style jutsu the cancels the fire out. Naruto isn't far from Kakashi, and leaps at the Devidramon that almost roasted him with a Rasengan in hand. Naruto lands his attack, not doing much damage, but knocking the Devidramon off course. The falling Devidramon tries to impale Naruto with one of its claws, but one of the ANBU members spot this, and breath a fireball that knocks the Digimon's attack off course. The Devidramon doesn't care enough to keep trying to kill Naruto. The Devidramon falls, but is either to stupid to try to right itself, or just doesn't care. Naruto runs down the wall of the arena to join Kazue and the others. Because of Kankuro's orders, Kakashi and several other shinobi that are proficient in in elemental jutsu stand ready at the stands to redirect the Devidramon or their attacks, while other ninja like Guy and Ten-Ten help evacuate the bystanders. A few of the bystanders stay to watch, kept there by their scouting duties. Several ninja leap down to join their comrades in the arena.

Three Devidramon land, and the fighting begins. Gaara takes on one of the Devidramon by himself, a huge amount of sand erupting from the ground to try and wrap around the Devidramon, trapping its arms. The Digimon roars and frees its arms. Gaara responds by raising even more sand, creating two separate chunks of sand, one of which is just from his gourd, while the other is much larger. Gaara controls the sand from his gourd like the tip of a whip, lashing out at the Devidramon, swirling back, and lashing out again. The Devidramon begins to swipes at Gaara's sand but one of the non-gourd sand chunks goes out of it's way just to agitate the Devidramon. The sand in the air proves to be nothing more than a distraction, as the Devidramon is slowly sucked into the ground by Gaara's sand.

Meanwhile, Kazue, Naruto, Temari, and several other Shinobi team up against a different Devidramon. Kazue lets them know how ineffective normal weapons will be, and they all focus on using ninjutsu. Kazue and two other ninja pepper the Devidramon with earth and fire. Their attacks do little damage to the Digimon, but keep it occupied. Naruto and another ninja in his native village use close-range ninjutsu, with Naruto using Rasengan and the other using the a portion brutish strength Tsunade is known for. These attacks do more damage than the longer ranged jutsu, but still isn't much more than an annoyance to the Devidramon. The Devidramon lashes out against the ninja multiple times, but isn't fast enough to hit any of them. Temari makes sure that none of the Digimon's blows land, using her fan to blow his arms off course, ensuring the safety of her fellow kunoichi. Three more ninja join the fight, and the three turn out to be just what the shinobi need to start doing some real damage to the Devidramon.

At the same time, Maru takes on the other Devidramon that has landed. The Wizardmon has much more success than the humans do. Maru utilizes the same wingless flight he used when he was an Impmon, only it has gotten stronger with his evolution, and he needs to put less effort into going faster. However, by choice, he doesn't fly much higher than he did before he evolved. So,Maru levitates above the ground, points his hands at his enemy and shoots lightning out of his outstretched fingers to the Devidramon. This lightning is less powerful than the one he used to kill the first Devidramon, which is now a smoking corpse. The Devidramon under this attack is able to slowly step towards Maru. Maru flies in a half circle with Devidramon being the center so the Devidramon's back is to Kazue, attacking the entire time. Then he lands, and puts more power into his lightning attack. The boost in power stops all of the Devidramon's forward movement. The Devidramon has to dig its heels into the ground while its flesh is being cooked. After a couple of seconds, Maru stops and returns his arms to his side. The Devidramon stumbles towards Maru. Maru holds a hand out towards Devidramon, his fingers pointing skyward. His hand starts glowing a bright red. A moment later, a Devidramon sized fireball is flying at Maru's enemy. This fireball looks like a much larger version of Maru's small pink and red fireball that Maru used while he was an Impmon. The demonic dragon doesn't doodge, and the fireball makes impact. The fireball doesn't burn flesh, but takes the strength out of the Devidramon's muscles, causing him to fall on the ground helplessly. It doesn't get up.

The Devidramon Gaara is fighting is halfway in the sand. Gaara decides to try and crush it once he can completely bury it in sand. The Devidramon's thrashing doesn't make this an easy task. The Devidramon Kazue is fighting meets a sudden end when the containment shinobi in the stands coordinate an attack. The combined ninjutsu manages to knock out the Devidramon.

However, just as the first three Devidramon reach the end of their ropes, six more land. The shinobi receive reinforcements as Leaf Ninja and Sand Ninja join the battle. Maru takes on one of the five the same way he took on the last Devidramon. Kazue ends up fighting a Devidramon with just Naruto and Temari. Three other Devidramon end up fighting five shinobi each. The remaining Devidramon attacks randomly, only able to hit one shinobi the entire time he is on the ground. The containment shinobi evenly spread out their attacks. This turns out to be a mistake, with the Devidramon once again not taking much damage from the attacks. Again, Maru is the only one able to do any debilitating damage. However, the Wizardmon works fast, and eliminates two Devidramon before the final one can land. Gaara finally finishes burying the Devidramon he has been fighting, and spends the rest of the fight thoroughly crushing it,

Once the final demonic dragon lands, the four remaining Devidramon change. It is if they had been sleep fighting the entire time, and had only just awoken. They all look focus on Kazue. The closest on makes a fast, lunging attack that just misses Kazue, sending her flying from just being near the blow. The Devidramon close in on Kazue knocking aside shinobi that try to get in their way.

The sudden change in the Devidramon doesn't go unnoticed by Maru. At first the Wizardmon tries to just observe the change to determine the source, but his partner being in trouble changes that. He flies a couple feet high than the Devidramons' head level, and positions himself over Kazue. As the four Devidramon close in, he spins in midair. He lets out fast, weak, little shocks. He does so to annoy the Devidramon into attacking him instead of Kazue. It takes five to finally get their attention. The Devidramon fly at Maru. The Wizardmon flies up at an incredible speed, easily faster than the Devidramon. He stops his ascent once he is seventy meters above the stands. Kazue runs up the arena wall, yelling for her partner to stop. Once the Devidramon reach the top of the arena he starts doing handsigns at a speed that is hard to track to an untrained eye. Many signs later he announces in his monotonous voice," Imitation:Terra Force!" and he stretches his arms skyward. A giant, red ball of energy forms above Wizardmon. Maru is tiny compared to the attack. But when Maru's arms fall, the attack flies towards the Devidramon. The Devidramon keep the attack-ignoring attitude they all showed in the previous fighting. The attack hits all four on their way to see the Wizardmon. Four half melted corpses fall back into the arena.

Maru is completely drained from using the move that should be out of a champion level Digimon's reach. He falls, to weak to fly or even control his descent. Kazue catches her partner before he can hit the ground. She squeezes the Wizardmon to her chest, a tear in her eye. "You scared me." she says, her voice low.

"I have to keep you somehow. Get used to it." Maru half-jokes, managing to crack a small, exhausted smile. Kazue only hugs him harder.

Their little moment is interrupted by Devimon's loud laugh. The only Digimon in Konoha yet to fight says,"There appears to be more than you than meets the eye, Wizardmon. Everyone else's performance predictably pathetic."

Anger covers Kazue's face. She frees on hand to perform jutsu if Devimon comes at her, while her opposite arm is wrapped protectively around Maru. However, Devimon lets out another mad laugh and flies away. The two Kage in the Village Hidden in the Leaves land their jumps right next to Kazue as Devimon flies away, still laughing. The ninja don't pursue, as Gaara is the only who can pursue that high in the air, not counting the exhausted Wizardmon.

"Are you okay?" Gaara asks. Kazue just nods, head down in thought. The Kazekage leaves the top of the arena to go help rid of the Devidramon bodies, and help lead the shinobi.

"I'll be busy tomorrow fixing this mess, but then you and I are going to have a little talk." Tsunade says. Then she jumps down to the arena to heal and lead.

Kazue and Maru stay on the top of the building for a little while. Once Maru is strong enough to move under his own power, they return to the arena. Kazue helps rebuild while Maru observes the surrounding, watching for any trace of Devimon or his minions. Once the sun sets, Kazue, Naruto and Maru return to Naruto's for food and rest.

* * *

 **AN- You may be wandering why a Wizardmon would exist if he didn't have a wand. I mean, he is a wizard right? Well, wands don't really fit in the Naruto world so it's gone. Now if I have someone like Tankmon where guns are instrumental to the Digimon, (I won't use him the story, other than a few exceptions) I may modify the weapon to be more Naruto appropriate.**


	8. Chapter 8

The next day, Kazue is promoted to chunin and officially added to the roster of Leaf Ninja. She chooses not to wear the jacket. Kazue and a recovered Maru spend the day working on their combo moves. Maru also explores his new powers from his evolution, and lets Kazue know what he can reliably do. This includes invisibility, improved control of fire, lightning, water, ice and earth, a huge base of chakra, stronger flight, better genjutsu, etc. After practicing a few moves, he notes that releasing what power he in a moment's notice has is relatively compared low to the chakra he has.

Kohona spends the day repairing the damage done, and elders freaking out about the attack. The Sand Ninja start the journey back to Suna once they are certain that they are not leaving Konoha vulnerable. Team Seven and Team Eight are sent off on another mission, with Kakashi leading Team Eight.

The next day, Kazue and Maru report to Tsunade. As soon as they enter, they know the Hokage is in a bad mood. No different than when Maru was an Impmon, Maru falls behind his partner.

"I thought you said no one was coming after you!" Tsunade practically yells as Kazue and Maru enter her office.

"All the Devimon were supposed to be wiped out a long time ago! And it had nothing to do with my village! I have no idea where it came from! Almost any team that had been chunin for a year should be able to take could take him. It would be able to be a suicide mission." Kazue says.

"Well we can't have that thing attacking anyone else. I'm sending you two along with a team to go kill him."Tsunade announces.

"Fine. We'll need some experienced chunin or some jonin. They'll have to specialize in some kind of elemental jutsu. Genjutsu definitely won't-" Kazue starts, but the Hokage interrupts her.

"You think I can hand pick a team for a mission like this, especially after two days ago?"Tsunade lets out a genuine laugh. Then she says," No, you get the choice between the two chunin teams." Kazue's jaw drops as she looks at Tsunade in disbelief. Ignoring Kazue, the Hokage continues," You get two choices, Team Asuma or-"

"Who are they?" Kazue cuts in.

In Tsunade's mind, she crushes to much younger kunoichi to a pulp. In reality, she sighs and answers," Shikamaru, Choji and Ino. Ino specializes in Soul Possession Jutsu, Choji does Body Expansion Jutsu, and Shikamaru deos Shadow Manipulation Jutsu. The bond between the boys is quite strong, as is their teamwork. And Shikamaru may be the smartest person in Kohana."

"They'll get slaughtered like animals!" Kazue yells at the higher-ranked ninja while gesturing furiously.

"Well." She says, cocking her head, but otherwise ignoring Kazue's outburst. She takes a deep breath and continues," Another option is Team Guy."

"Are you crazy!? You want to send two taijutsu specialists, with me! This thing is literally a demon that can become a shadow, and you want them to smack it around ?! This isn't going to work and they're going to just get killed!" Kazue yells, completely forgetting that she is addressing a superior.

"We dealt with many more of these… things two days ago!" Tsunade yells, standing and slamming her hands onto her desk.

"This thing isn't going to fly into a moon made of fire!" Kauze yells, frustrated.

"You said it wouldn't mess with your village, correct?" Tsunade doesn't really ask, it's more of a threatening yell.

"It wouldn't because a typical team was one chunin and one jonin and their partners! Jonin usually have a Digimon an entire level above Devimon!" Kazue is still yelling.

"Well listen here. I'm giving you two choices and regardless of what you pick, I want that Devimon thing dead!" Tsunade yells.

"Fine. I'll take Team Guy. Just don't blame me if they are all dead and crippled when we come back." Kazue says angrily, walking out the door. As she passes her partner, she mutters,"Show her."

Maru doesn't turn to leave. Instead, he makes direct eye contact with Tsunade. The world the Hokage sees in suddenly warps into a horrible landscape. The land around her has been frozen, and burning, parts of it still burning. She sees the corpses of both Digimon and humans alike. She doesn't know them, but she knows they were important. Powerful even. Then she sees two Digimon, one known as Apollomon and the other Dianamon. Both have blood from the corpses around them smeared onto their clothes. She doesn't know them, but she knows they are enemies, and that her boss didn't send enough and that she would die. Tsunade doesn't release the genjutsu, Maru undoes it from a distance. Tsunade feels a pang of worry as they leave.

Kazue angrily walks towards the gate to exit Kohana. Maru follows a few feet behind, not transformed into a human form. Once they are halfway to the gate Maru adjusts his elbow, making his arm form a ninety degree angle. While his palm is facing the sky, he flexes and relaxes his fingers multiple times.

"What are you doing?' Kazue asks, her voice still slightly snappy from the anger Tsunade had aroused.

"Naruto used something called Rasengan before. I'll have a diverse arsenal, some I am learning it." Maru says. The next time he flexes his fingers, a bit of chakra is visible whirling in his palm. This cheers Kazue up a little bit.

Her frustration somewhat ebbed, she makes the logical decision to stop at Naruto's place for some supplies. Maru self-teaches himself Rasengan the entire time. By the time they are back on their way to the gate out, Maru has a small, ball of chakra whirling in his hand. As they approach the gate, Maru takes off running, the small Rasengan enlarging to a larger size than Naruto's, and is spinning faster. He presses it into an invisible, imaginary opponent. He turns to Kazue and says,"Most of the time when I use it, I'll be flying. Unless I'm invisible or transformed or something."

"Show off." Kazue says with a smile. Maru returns to her side. They lay down, leaning against the side off the wall right next to gate. Kazue's thoughts quickly lead her in a depression. She tells her partner," I don't want them to die, Maru. I can't have another village suffer because I couldn't stop somebody. We're just rebuilding our life. I… I just can't." She hugs her knees to her chest.

Maru wishes he could tell Kazue that he would protect both her and Team Guy, and that they would be safe. However, he knows that he only truly cares about Kazue, and that he would be lying. However, he does stand up and say," So what. So what if they all die. It's just like you said, we'll keep moving forward. No matter what happens, you will keep moving forward, and I'll watch your back. Kohana can burn, Suna can burn, I don't care what happens, we'll end up just fine."

"You know you're a heartless bastard right?" Kazue's asks, a smile on her face and tears in her eyes. She opens her arms, and they hug.

"Cheer up. Before Mr. Eyebrows yells the worry out of you." Maru jokes.

Kazue manages to cheer up somewhat before Team Guy shows up. She's still gloomy when they show up.

"Hello again! I am glad that we will be going on a mission together!" Lee says as he approaches.

"Yeah. Just be careful once we find Devimon okay? Leave most of the fighting to Maru." Kazue says as she stands.

Guy is next to talk, and punches the air as he does,"Devimon! Kakashi Told Me All About What Happened! Don't Worry, He Won't Be A Match For Us!" Kazue just sighs, and they walk out the gate.

"Do we have any idea where this Devimon is, or the best way to fight it?" Neji asks.

"Not really, and I have an idea what we shouldn't be using." Kazue says.

"That's great." Tenten mutters.

"He probably wants to stay somewhat close to Maru. We might find him at the nearest mountain region." Kazue says. She's just guessing, but Team Guy doesn't know that.

The expanded version of Team Guy sets out, at their usual over the top pace. Their goal is the closest set of mountains. They set off, adopting Team Guy's unusually fast travelling speed. The fast pace knocks a couple of hours off the two day trip. The first day goes off with only, Neji and Tenten complaining about the pace. Kazue keeps her complaints to herself, and Maru just doesn't care.

The next day starts similarly well. However, a couple hours into their running, they hear a scream from a different road. They run to the screams origin without a word. Once they arrive they see four guards guarding a caravan from eight attackers. There three people inside the caravan. Two guards for on the front and back, with the right and left are reinforced with steel. The guards are obviously better fighters and better equipped, with three or four of the attackers darting in, trying to do some damage and dart out before the well-armed guards land any lethal blows. The Leaf Shinobi immediately jump to their aid. Tenten jumps on top of the caravan, sending projectiles down at the attackers harassing the guards at the front. Neji goes in front of the guards guarding the caravan's rear, and defends from that end. Lee and Guy go on the offensive, immediately bringing the fight to the attackers. Kazue hesitates a bit, not knowing her role in the team. However, she quickly joins Guy and Lee in bringing the fight to the attackers.

Knowing that the attackers didn't stand a chance under the ninja's assault, Maru doesn't engage, and stays in the bushes. The Digimon tries to pick out either a leader, or if one of the attackers could be an actual threat.

All but two of the attackers are quickly knocked out. That's when over a dozen enemy reinforcements arrive, disorganized and two attackers scramble back to their allies. One of the criminals turn to once he reaches his allies, while the other keeps running through the forest.

"Go After That Man!" Guy yells to Kazue. The newest Leaf Ninja nods, and begins to chase him.

"Careful! I think that one is a missing-nin!" Neji yells over the sound of combat.

Kazue charges, but the group of attackers is in her way. This is when Maru comes out the bushes. The Wizardmon flies close to the ground towards partner, one hand dipping so three fingertips touch the ground. Once he gets in front of Kazue, he stops flying forward, swiping his hand forward. The ground erupts, knocking over the criminals as the Wizardmon stops his momentum. The criminals are knocked over by Maru's attack. Kazue doesn't slow at all, running over them. Maru keeps pace with her by flying next to her. The person they are chasing runs up a tree and begins hopping from branch to branch. Kazue and Maru give chase. They are faster than the people they are chasing, but he had a large enough head start where he is out of the range of Maru's attacks. Before Kazue lands on a branch, a small explosion goes off where stem and branch connect. There was a paper bomb on the tree. The explosion doesn't do anything to Kazue herself, but the branch falls. Maru grabs his larger partner, spins to gain momentum, and throws her onto the next branch. The ninja they are chasing uses this opportunity to lengthen the gap between them. He finds a clearing, and chooses to run across that in place of jumping from branch to branch. As Kazue and Maru approach where he diverted from the trees from, they hear the sickening crunch of bones breaking. Maru turns invisible, letting Kazue know with a whisper. Once they enter the clearing, they see the criminal writhing on the ground, arm broken and bent. Staring down at him is a teenager with the Uchiha Crest on the back of his shirt. Kazue and Maru recognize it immediately.

Sasuke Uchiha turns to face Kazue. He looks down to the man on the floor, then back to Kazue. "He was in an awful rush." Sasuke says. He notices Kazue has the symbol for the Village Hidden in the Leaves on her forehead protecter. "You're a Leaf Ninja? I don't recognize you. Don't tell me Naruto sent you." He muses.

"You're Sasuke Uchiha." Kazue pretends to just realize. "I'm not going to be a match for this guy, just study him and take over once he takes me out." She whispers, seemingly to nobody. Sasuke can't make out what she is saying, his Sharingan not yet on. Maru can, and a bit of worry crawls into his heart.

Sasuke continues talking, choosing not to respond to her. He talks more to himself to her," I don't recognize you. Who are you?" Then, he actually addresses Kazue,"Since you know who I am, I suppose you want to take me in."

"Pretty much." Kazue says. She draws her sword, and begins running at Sasuke.

Sasuke smirks, and activates his Sharingan. To his surprise he sees not only Kazue and her chakra, but a seemingly bodiless chakra pool that surpasses even Naruto's. Maru notices Sasuke seeing what he can of Maru. However, Sasuke turns his attention back to Kazue, but keeps an eye on the not truly visible Maru. Kazue isn't quite fast enough to challenge Sasuke with his Sharingan on. However, the mysterious presence that is Maru makes him keep it on. Although she isn't a true challenge, Kazue is fast enough that Sasuke has to put some effort forth to avoid being cut by her sword. So, he draws his own, and begins defending himself from the Leaf Ninja's attacks.

The fight starts with Sasuke smacking away Kazue's attacks as he keeps an eye on what he can see of Maru and tries to figure out just who Kazue is. Realizing she isn't getting anywhere, Kazue starts going all out, not bothering to even watch out for attacks from Sasuke. The increase of speed and ferocity of Kazue's attacks forces Sasuke to put more effort into defending himself, although he still manages to do so easily.

Seeing his partner become reckless, Maru makes himself visible again. He charges a lightning attack, and raises his right arm to point his palm at Sasuke. Electricity dances on his hand as the shinobi fight.

Maru appearance shocks Sasuke, and he lets out a small gasp. His Sharingan sees the attack, but doesn't show where it will strike. In the middle of deflecting Kazue's assault, he finds himself unable to discern who the Digimon intends to injure. So, the next time Kazue sends a reckless blow at him, he deflects and rams into Kazue with his shoulder, sending her sprawling. He puts a little distance between himself and the kunoichi. He glances at Maru to see the Wizardmon's hand trained on him.

When Kazue comes at him again, he takes control of the fight, forcing Kazue to go between offensive and defensive, but not throwing anything at her that she can't handle.

This puts Maru on edge, even if their isn't a change visible to anyone's eye, not even the Sharingan.

Sasuke maneuvers Kazue between himself and Maru. The Digimon's sight now blocked, he flies up twenty feet in the air, ready to attack Sasuke the entire time.

The fight goes on for another minute, with Sasuke falling back towards a pure, voluntary defensive. Then, Sasuke realizes he might know who Kazue is. He locks blades with Kazue at his soonest opportunity. Both of them struggle against each other, trying to overpower one another. Sasuke's greater physical strength allows him to push Kazue back, forcing her to waste time recovering. Instead of taking advantage at Kazue's vulnerability, he says," I know who are. A while ago their was an island that came from somewhere. It was burning. You're from that place." He points his sword at Kazue as he says that last sentence. He lowers it and continues talking,"I saw Naruto and the others go in, but the thing disappeared before they left. I guess they aren't gone then. Too bad. You however… are interesting. I haven't any of those things behind you before. I'm a bit surprised nobody has come to your rescue yet." His question is a random guess," Unless… could you be the last one?"

Kazue doesn't answer, but clenches her jaw shut. It's all the reaction the missing-nin needs."You don't make sense. How are you not… angry? Don't you want vengeance? How… How did you live?" He genuinely asks.

Kazue's head hangs as she answers," I don't. You aren't supposed to pick at an open wound right? Once I've built something back up, and everything is stable again, I'll mourn what I've lost. If you are wondering why I don't hate anyone… I guess it is because there isn't anyone left so I can get my vengeance on."

Kazue's answer leaves Sasuke completely dissatisfied. Somewhere deep down, he was hoping for a way out of the path of hatred he had been following. "What a pathetic way to exist. No wonder you're weak. I bet your whole clan was the same way." Sasuke says.

Sasuke's words infuriates Kazue. Maru almost has a similar reaction, but knows this situation is too fragile for him to get angry. He knows his partner is in danger and doesn't stand a chance, but knows that anything Maru can learn before he fights Sasuke is valuable. If his self-control wasn't good, he would be shivering with anticipation.

His partner, on the other hand, is shaking with anger. She grabs her sword with both hands and yells," They weren't weak!"

The two ninja lunge at eachother, one of them smiling in a way that can only be described as an evil smile. Maru also moves, flying counter-clockwise around the ninja, and aiming his attack. Sasuke, the better fighter out of the two ninja, manages to stab Kazue in her side. He misses her organs, and doesn't manage to put his sword all the way through her. He would go for something more lethal, but his Sharingan foresees a bolt of lightning slamming into his chest. He almost doesn't believe that an attack that fast can be made, especially without an actual ninja running with it in his hand. However, he still removes his sword from Kazue and leaps backward. Maru's attack hits the ground harmlessly.

Kazue presses a hand down on her wound to slow the bleeding, but the wound does nothing to calm her rage. Still glaring at the Uchiha, she begins to advance again when Maru lands between her and Sasuke.

"Kazue." He says, grabbing her attention. When he speaks again, his voice is a bit forceful,"Mine." Kazue starts to protest, but her wound reminds her how outclassed she is. She retreats to the forest.

"She wasn't a match for me. What makes you think you'll will be?" Sasuke asks.

"I've always been stronger than her. Now more than ever." Maru asks.

Maru's mindset is the definition of focused. Somewhere deep inside, his rage passes Kazue's. Sasuke has insulted his partner, and his village, then preceded to wound the person he holds most dear. Yet the danger Sasuke presents, and the danger he has to face afterward forces him in a calm, collected mood.

The fight starts with Maru taking to the air, and Sasuke performing a Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu. Maru uses the same jutsu to cancel Sasuke's out. The shorter of the contestants takes to the air, but stays low enough so if Sasuke were to be right in front of him, the Uchiha could punch the Wizardmon.

Sasuke begins running at Maru. Maru flies left until his back isn't facing the forest. Then he flies backwards at a speed that is slower than Sasuke's sprint. He is unleashing elemental jutsu the entire time. With a wave of Maru's hand, ground is displaced. A small, one story house sized piece of earth floats up out of the ground, and flies at Sasuke in a series of chunks. Each chunch is twice as large as a standard kunai, and accompanied by at least two of its brethren. Even with his Sharingan, Sasuke has difficulty evading the attack. Another chunk of earth pops up. Then Sasuke has to dodge a series of fireballs. The intensity of Maru's attacks increase, and Sasuke is able to stay untouched solely thanks to his Sharingan. As Sasuke gets closer to Maru, the Wizardmon flies higher and higher.

Once Sasuke gets rather close, the Uchiha jumps up, grabbing the back of Maru's head and casting a Sharingan based genjutsu. Then, Sasuke whirls his body, throwing Maru towards the ground. When the Digimon hits the ground, Sasuke prepares a Chidori. With a smile, he descends on Maru, a Chidori enclosed hand outstretched. As Sasuke nears Maru, he can't believe his Sharingan when it shows Maru moving out of the way, instead of gaping at an illusion of Kazue's decapitated corpse. However, Sasuke's eyes aren't wrong, and a strong, sudden burst of flight carries Kazue out of the way of Sasuke's Chidori. Maru lands as Sasuke looks at the Wizardmon in shock.

"You think your eyes are the only ones that can cast good genjutsu. You are wrong." Maru states. He flexes his right hand. A small ball of electricity forms for a moment, but fades. " You think you've the best mastery of lightning here." Maru says. He flexes his hand again, and Chidori forms around it. "Also wrong. I'll beat you with your own move." Maru states.

His pride insulted, Sasuke grits his teeth and forms a Chidori. The two enemies charge each other, one flying, one running. As Maru flies, his free hand comes to his chest and forms a hand sign. A clone appears, and flies up above where Sasuke and Maru will meet. Sasuke thinks nothing of it, telling himself he'll just deal with the original and it will disappear. However, as Sasuke approaches the point of no return, the clone performs a jutsu. Sasuke's eyes see a switch. The original is suddenly the clone and the clone is suddenly the original. Without any visible change in the charging Digimon. The Wizardmon charging him has the lesser chakra signature of a clone, yet the Chidori is still there, and hasn't lost any power.

The two Chidori connect. There's an explosion of energy. Maru's clone dissipates, and Sasuke is sent flying. Maru is prepared for this, and flies at his back, Rasengan in hand. The Digimon presses the attack into Sasuke's back. The Uchiha is sent flying towards the ground.

Maru lands as Sasuke struggles to get up. Maru walks towards him and says,"Your jutsu has a bit more power to it. But Naruto's is easier to use, and is more modifiable." The Wizardmon stops right next to the rising Sasuke, punches him in the gut. He gives him a hard push and says,"You are a pathetic weakling. Next time you see a Digimon, just beg for your life."

"Shut up!" Sasuke snarls.

"You're beaten. We're done." Maru says. He walks past Sasuke, intending to return to the forest and Kazue. Once the Digimon has passed him, Sasuke does the hand signs for Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu. But before he can finish Maru turns. Maru whips his hand around as he turns. A blast of wind blasts Sasuke off a feet a forcefully drops him on the ground. Maru turns and continues his walk. Even with his back turned, Maru is aware of the rest of Sasuke's team Taka arriving. At the same time, Team Guy arrives. After watching Karin start to heal Sasuke, and seeing the rest of Taka take defensive positions around the other half of their team, Maru turns and keeps walking. He tells Team Guy,"If you fighting them, you are doing so without my help. The danger to Kazue has passed."

The two sides ready for teams in end exchanging nothing more than glares. They both end up retreating, with Sasuke glaring hate into the back of Maru's head. Once Team Guy is safe a mile into the forest, they stop to exchange stories and tend to Kazue's wound. Team Guy had dealt with the bandits rather easily, yet sheer number held them back from getting to Maru and his partner. The caravan riders profound thanks, slowed them down. Tenten is able to heal Kazue's wound without any trouble. However, Tenten isn't a good as many medical-nin, and it takes her longer than notable medical specialists. Nonetheless, half an hour after they stopped, Kazue is completely healed and ready to proceed with the mission.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer-I don't own Naruto or Digimon.**

 **For some reason I was going to put spoiler instead of disclaimer**

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The expanded Team Guy heads out again, nearing their mountain destination. Maru uses his Imitation to replicate the Byakugan. He watches out for an ambush manned by Taka, but one never comes. They travel fast for the rest of the day making it to the base of the mountain. The Leaf Ninjas aren't disturbed when they make camp for the night.

The next day, they end up wandering the mountain aimlessly, hoping Neji's Byakugan will pick up something. The search seems pointless, and they start thinking of other places Devimon could of gone. The sun has began to set, and the team is partway up the mountain when Maru tenses up and announces,"He's near."

Neji doesn't see Devimon, and asks," Are you sure? I don't see anything."

"I don't know whether or not he can hide from your eyes. Be careful." Maru says.

They all ready themselves for combat, slow their pace, and begin scanning the surrounding area for Devimon. Neji turns, an Eight Trigrams Air Palm ready. He yells as he turns,"Tenten, get down!" The Hyuga launches his attack over Tenten's crouching form. Devimon materializes out of the shadows, easily flies out of the way of his attack, and changes target from Tenten to Lee. A barrage of fire from Maru forces the Devimon to abandon its surprise attack entirely.

The Devimon's flight, like everything else about it, is unnatural. Its wings seem purely decorative. Unlike most wing-bearing organisms, the wings don't flap or propel the Digimon through the air. Instead, the Devimon defies gravity and twists through the air at will.

Flying back, the Devimon lets out a booming laugh. He flies into the shadow of a tree. Unlike a normal being, which would hit the ground and stop, the shadow absorbs the Digimon. The extended Team Guy hear a deep voice from all around them. It says,"I'm going to kill every single one of you, save one. You can pick who survives now and have them flee, or you can wait and I can send them packing missing a couple of limbs. The girl and the digimon are not qualified for this position."

"You aren't killing anyone!" Kazue yells back. Lee agrees with her. Maru vows a different version of the same idea to silently to himself," _He isn't taking Kazue."_

Devimon merely lets out another booming laugh. It emerges from a shadow far behind where he seemingly flew into the ground. Finally still, it taunts,"Come get me."

"Let's let Maru take-" Kazue starts.

"We've Got Him!" Guy interrupts, yells running at Devimon. Lee follows, a step behind his sensei. Lee jumps into the air, and Guy jumps up right next to him. The older ninja places a hand on Lee's back, spins, and throws the younger ninja at Devimon.

As part of Team Guy charges, Maru holds out a hand and says,"Imitation: Dark Roar" Three spheres of dark matter form in front of his hand,

"Wait, you idiots! Get out the way!" Kazue yells, throwing a hand out as if it could stop Guy and Lee. At the same time, the rest of Team Guy run to assist the taijutsu specialists.

Maru's attack is ready, but he finds himself unable to aim the powerful attack with Team Guy in his way. "I'll destroy them all Kazue." Maru says calmly, eyes cold and unfeeling.

"Don't!" Kazue yells.

She tries to take more action, but the Devimon she's supposed to be fighting does. It easily flies around Team Guy, completely ignoring Tenten's kunai. It swipes its hand mid-swipe, and several blasts of unholy energy fly at Maru.

Maru, unprepared for the speed of the Devimon's flight and the speed of its attack tries to undo his own attack. He manages to convert the attack to energy, and begins absorbing that energy as fast as he can. By time he has it at a power level he knows he can survive, he still has a bit of time before Devimon's attack hits his. He to devote one hand to sending a blade of wind at Kazue, the attack carrying her away from her partner while doing little damage. His other hand continues absorbing his attack.

Devimon's attack hits, and there's an explosion as the energy of Maru's converted attack is violently released. Kazue is out of the way because of Maru's wind style move. Maru ends up the only one in the explosion. It sends him flying away, until he isn't visible to Kazue, Devimon, and Team Guy.

"Maru!" Kazue screams, eyes widening as her typically infallible partner is blasted away. She pulls out her sword and faces the Devimon.

The Devimon merely laughs and taunts her,"You're next, little girl." Smiling the same way a person who has lost their sanity smiles. It is interrupted by both Neji's Eight Trigrams: Air Palm and Tenten's kunai with paper bombs hitting it in its back. Damage is done, but the attacks leave no marks on its skin. The Devimon turns, and catches a roundhouse kick from both Guy and Lee in its inhumanly large hands. It flies up a bit, spins, and let them go, sending the chunin sliding in the dirt. Guy and Lee both end up twenty feet from Devimon, and forty feet from each other.

Devimon flies at Lee, and the humans run to help Lee. Kazue unleashes a fireball at the Devimon as she runs. The Devimon laughs and lets the fireball hit it, disappearing as it does. As Lee gets back up to his feet, the humans realize that the Devimon Kazue hit was just an illusion, and form a tight circle to look for it. To their collective horror, they realize that it is behind Guy.

They see the Devimon floating behind Guy, with the Digimon's hands on Guy's head. Guy's face changes from a face that is in combat to a face to a face of someone who has brain which is not currently functioning. His shoulders droop, all expression leaves his face, and his eyes take on a blank stare.

"Guy-sensei?" Lee asks, eyes becoming watery.

"Don't worry little boy. I'll make it so you'll never cry again." Devimon taunts, an evil glint in his eye.

The remaining members of Team Guy shocked are shocked on how their leader taken out. The shinobi charge, and Devimon flies at them. Tenten stops and unseales her some weapons, making them come out as high speed projectiles. Neji uses Soft Fist to try to disable the enemy Digimon, while Kazue attacks with her sword and Lee uses his typical taijutsu, but his movements are warped by his rage. Lee's anger prevents Neji from syncing attacks, and the Hyuga does not have enough experience to synchronize his attacks her.

After fifteen seconds of dodging attacks from the humans, the Devimon finds itself facing Lee's back. He swipes at the youth's exposed backside, making sure to enlarge its hand and injects some chakra into the attack. Lee falls on the ground with a yell, and isn't able to get up, or move at all due to the hostile Digimon's chakra leaves paralyzing and chakra drai effects.

Devimon turns and takes a hit from Neji. The Hyuga manages to block a chakra point on the Devimon's left arm. Neji isn't able to attack again as he takes a backhand to the face. The force of the blow knocks him off his feet.

The Devimon then turns to face Kazue. The Leaf Shinobi swipes at it, but the long limbed Digimon stretches an already long arm and grabs her arm. The Devimon casts a genjutsu. She doesn't become like Guy, but the Devimon's genjutsu is strong enough to make her completely forget she was fighting.

Neji backs off, and takes a defensive stance in front of Tenten. Through his Byakugan, he can see the chakra points in his Digimon opponent move and change, and the point Neji blocked is unblocked. Devimon stands, and prepares a couple more blasts of unholy energy. Before it launches its attack, it hears,"Imitation: G Shurunnen II" A blue laser meets the Devimon's shoulder. The laser persists for a few seconds, taking Devimon into the air as it forces Devimon onto the laser's path. When the laser fades, Devimon falls to the ground.

The uninjured half of Team Guy turns to see Maru holding out a hand, which is softly glowing blue. The Wizardmon looks very beaten up, with many small tears and its clothing. Maru flies over to his partner, forms a hand sign and says," Release." Kazue snaps out of the genjutsu and falls over. Maru catches his partner and notices the genjutsu has left Kazue cold and weak. "Rest. I've got this." Maru says, his voice slightly softer than usual. Then he begins walking towards the Devimon. "Support me." The Wizardmon tells the rest of Team Guy.

The Devimon gets up. There is a hole in the Digimon's shoulder that goes all the way through it, revealing some of the Devimon's insides, which is the same color as its skin. However, the Devimon's movements aren't affected by the injury.

The Digimon walk toward each other for a few seconds, with Tenten walking far behind Maru but on his left, while Neji is just as far behind but on his right. The Digimon start flying at each other at the same time. Maru has small fireballs cupped in his hand and the Devimon crosses its arms in front of its chest and prepares more unholy bolts of energy.

The Devimon attacks first. Neji and Tenten use their own projectiles to knock the Devimon's attack aside. Maru attacks next, throwing many kunai-sized bolts of fire at the Devimon. The fire comes from the fireballs in Maru's hand, but the fireballs in the Wizardmon's hand are the base for the attack, and as the base don't fade away and aren't thrown. The Devimon manages to dodge most of the attack, but some of the fire hits the Devimon.

As the Digimon fly near each other, Maru flicks his wrists and puts the fire out. Once they are close to colliding, Maru spins and flies left. The other Digimon stretches an arm out in an attempt to claw Maru, but misses. The Devimon begins to turn to pass at Maru again, but Maru begins flying in place. Lighting is in one of his hands, not dissimilar to the fire earlier. Maru aims his hand at the Devimon. Lightning jumps from Maru's hand to the Devimon's chest. Maru keeps the attack up for a couple seconds, burning the Devimon's mark on its chest. The Devimon coats a hand in chakra, and blocks the flow of lightning. So, Maru stops the flow of lightning.

By this time, Kazue has recovered from the Devimon's genjutsu and moves to rejoin the fight. She shoots a fireball at the Devimon's back. Her attack is supported by a few exploding kunai from Tenten and Neji's Eight Trigrams Air Palm. The attacks land, causing some damage and the Devimon snarls in frustration, turning to face the humans. He sends a few blasts of unholy energy at the humans. Its attacks are easily dodged. Maru's Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu forces the Devimon into the air.

The Devimon changes his mind, and goes back after Maru, flying fast to avoid attacks from Kazue, Neji and Tenten. The Devimon manages to put Maru between himself and the humans. He then flies at Maru, trying to get him with the same attack that disabled Lee. Maru flies back, dodging swipe after swipe. The Wizardmon sends bursts of flames out of his hands whenever he sees an opening, which is often. The tattered Devimon is persistent in its attacks, and doesn't even flinch when Maru's flame lick at his flesh.

The humans send another barrage of attacks at the Devimon. Tenten's kunai explode on the Devimon. Smoke part of the effects of exploding kunai, and there is much of it between the two Digimon. Maru relaxes a bit, thinking he has a moment to recover. However, an arm stretches through the smoke, and a fingertip manages to leave a deep scratch on Maru's leg. Chakra is injected into Maru. The Wizardmon falls to ground. He isn't affected as bad as Lee is, and still manages to move, albeit slowly. He is able to control his own chakra to fight off the Devimon's chakra. However, the process of removing foreign chakra is a slow one for an exhausted Maru. Devimon emerges from the smoke, a smile gracing its face.

Seeing her partner hurt again, Kazue runs at Devimon, sword drawn. She isn't completly driven by rage, but wants to kill the Devimon, or at least buy Maru time for the Wizardmon to do so. Neji and Tenten spread out again, hoping she knows what she is doing. Maru is on all fours, trying to recover. Lee still can't move, the Devimon's chakra still coursing through his body.

Kazue pulls out her sword, and begins a close-combat fight with the Digimon. She begins swinging for the floating Devimon. The Devimon dodges her attacks, looking for an opening. Eventually, it finds one and swipes at the girl. The Devimon attacks as Kazue finds herself able to land a hit. She goes for it. When it comes time for Devimon's claws to pierce her skin, Kazue activates her kekkei genkia. The Devimon's attack passes right through Kazue flesh without harming her. She turns her kekkei genkia off, and cuts off one of Devimon's arms with an upward slash.

The Devimon falls back, finally seeming to feel the effects of its injuries. Kazue steps closer to finish the Digimon, but all of it falls into the ground. Kazue leaps back, wanting more room to prepare for whatever the battered Devimon is readying. The Devimon emerges from the ground, one arm expanding so it can cut Kazue. Kazue dodges to the left, and then cuts back, stabbing into the Devimon's arm as she does. However, her sword goes through the Devimon without meeting any resistance, marking it as an illusion.

The real Devimon emerges from the ground at her side, one claw slicing through flesh in an uppercut like wave of its arm. Kazue falls on the ground, paralyzed like Lee as the Devimon's chakra invades her body. The Devimon stands over her unmoving body for a few seconds, savoring the moment.

Neji and Tenten start moving to get Devimon away from Kazue. However, forty meters away, Maru seeing his partner defeated is all the incentive he needs to put a fresh burst of energy to remove the poison that is Devimon's chakra. Now free to move again, an exhausted Maru performs both a clone jutsu, and immediately after a substitution jutsu.

The Wizardmon swaps places with Kazue, with a clone flying at the Devimon. The real Maru forces Devimon away with a blast of wind. The clone flies behind the one-armed Devimon, and performs a jutsu that makes a chain of earth. The chain wraps around the Devimon's remaining limbs and waist, effectively immobilizing it. The clone of Maru forces the Devimon to its knees as the real Maru flies at the Devimon, a Chidori in Devimon isn't able to escape the chain jutsu, as the clone siphons chakra from the original to imbue the chain with chakra.

Maru lands his Chidori right in the middle of the Devimon's chest. The lightning attack goes completely through the Devimon. The Devimon lets out a small grunt as Maru lands the fatal blow. Now that he's won, Maru's clone and chain disappears. The Wizardmon is too tired to pull his hand out of the hole in the Devimon's chest. An exhausted turns his head Maru looks at his fallen partner

"You see her?" Maru asks his dying opponent. The Devimon looks at Kazue. Maru keeps talking, his exhaustion evident in his voice," She'll never be more hurt than this. I don't care how many of you there are, or how strong you believe you believe yourselves to be. I'll kill every single one that tries to bother us. That's a promise I'll keep no matter how dark it looks."

The Devimon lets out another laugh. It isn't the deep, booming laugh that the Devimon let out before, this one is weak and raspy. Then it talks, its voice is just like its laugh in its near death state. "Sorry. There are just too many of us and we are just too strong for one guy." The Devimon lets out a couple of weak coughs, and continues," Then again, you should have quite a bit of time. Somehow, you might just be able to-" The Devimon dies before it can finish its sentence.

Maru stays there for a couple moments, lost in his own thoughts. Then the Wizardmon yanks his hand out of the Devimon's corpse. He fills a bit of fire with a small bit of his almost depleted chakra reserves, and burns the corpse.

Then he slowly walks towards the still disabled Kazue. After looking at her body for a moment, he promises to himself,"I'm learning healing jutsu." He inspects Kazue's wound, and decides not it isn't the main cause of her continued weakness. Just as her wounds are being inspected by her partner, Kazue starts waking up. Maru gives Kazue a tiny bit of his chakra. It helps speed her recovery.

Meanwhile, Neji helps a shaken Lee up. The extended Team Guy, minus the eldest ninja converge on Guy.

Sometime during the fight, the big-browned ninja fell over. Nothing slowed or cushioned his fall. He is still is staring into nothingness. A bully would tease Guy's students for having a teacher who looks and acts brain-dead.

Lee begins to cry, but tries to hold back his tears. Neji and Tenten hang their heads in sorrow. Kazue just gapes at the older ninja, her eyes wide. Maru looks at him without any negative emotions. Maru walks up to Guy's body, and checks for a pulse. He finds one."He's alive." Maru declares. Maru is considering what to do next, and has almost set his heart on leaving Guy to his fate when the Wizardmon senses movement behind the other part of Team Guy.

He turns, lightning attack charging in his hand. He prepares to put the remainder of his chakra, and most of his life force in a single attack. However, when he sees Yamato and three ANBU members, he doesn't immediately attack.

"Tsunade told us that we would be getting reinforcements a few days into the mission, and had us eat some seeds so that Yamato would be able to track us." Neji explains. His head is still hanging, and their isn't much emotion in his voice. By this point Tenten and Lee have completely broken down to sobbing messes.

Yamato looks on at the scene in shock. However, he hides it well. "Is the mission over?" He asks, looking at the Devimon's still burning body in concealed wonder. Maru nods, so Yamato says," Then let's get you all home."

One of Yamato's teammates steps forward. The owl mask wearing ninja heals the enlarged Team Guy. First, he checks on Guy. After declaring their is nothing he can do for Guy, the ninja tends to the cuts the Devimon left on Lee and Kazue.

Then, they all head back to Konoha. Yamato has them all stand in a line, then uses his Wood Style to create a single, large wooden plank under them. Then he uses Wood Style to grow one large, vine like branch under the plank. With this propelling them, the time it takes them to back to their village is greatly reduced. When Yamato tires, his three ANBU teammates give him some chakra to keep the jutsu going.

The whole trip back is somber. Neji merely sits on the plank, hair covering his face. He doesn't say a word the entire trip. Tenten has stopped crying, and sits down, rocking in an attempt to calm herself. Lee stands throughout the trip, still crying softly. Every once in awhile, he manages to stop crying, but then he looks at the unmoving body of his sensei and starts tearing up again. Kazue is still wide eyed, with her thoughts carrying her mind to horrible things happening to her new village. Mary focuses on replenishing his chakra reserves, but notices Kazue's distress. The Wizardmon sits down and attempts to massage her shoulders. While the massage itself is poorly done, it does help soothe Kazue. When they arrive at Kohana, Team Guy, along with Yamato and the ANBU immediately rush Guy to the hospital.

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 **This chapter was wayyy longer than intended. So it was split in two.**

 **More importantly, this story now has a MorrisSoler betaing this story. We'll be improving the story from the beginning forward, so newer chapters won't be edited for a while.**


	10. Chapter 10

Kazue and Maru head to Naruto's place. Kazue walks numbly, seeing images of Guy being disabled, and then the same happening to everyone in this village. Maru watches his partner, closely, but can't think of anyway to help. Once they reach Naruto's home, Kazue just curls up on the floor. Maru tries to make her some food, but she doesn't eat. Maru just watches her for a while.

About an hour after they get back, Kazue falls asleep. Finally feeling that it is safe to leave Kazue, Maru blocks off Naruto's door with some Earth Style Jutsu and walks to the Hokage's office at a fast pace.

Tsunade is surprised when Maru comes through the door. She hadn't heard of Team Guy's return. "Mission's done." Is all Maru says. The Digimon turns to walk out the door.

He's stopped by Tsunade almost yelling ,"Where's your partner? And where's Guy? And your report?"

Maru truly considers walking out the door. But he turns and answers calmly," That was my report." Then, anger creeps into his voice. A fist clenches involuntarily. His speech turns more to a growl than actual speech," Guy is lying somewhere in the hospital, just a body with no mind. Kazue is lying on the floor crying her heart out because she feels like she's the one that failed. And that she just got to this village and she's already failing it." With that, Maru takes a step out the door.

However, Tsunade interrupts his departure again. "What happened to Guy?Is it reversible?"

"Guy lost his mind because someone didn't send the right people to the fight. After the fool was warned. And your healers and medics aren't going to be able to do anything."

"Can you reverse it?"

"I don't know, and I don't care to try."

Maru walks away. He ignores Tsunade's orders to return to her side, and report to him, and everything else she yells down the hallway. He returns to Kazue.

Once it's clear that Maru isn't coming back, the Hokage feels an intense worry for Guy. She goes to the hospital, scrambling to get out her chair. She barges through the hospital doors and demands to know where Guy is being treated.

When she enters Guy's room she finds the three best doctors Kohana has, one examining the ninja and the other discussing in the back of the room. She also finds two nurses near a windows waiting for orders. She finds Guy's students at the man's bed. She talks to the doctors, and they end up telling her they can't even begin to recognize what the Devimon did to Guy, but his brain in only sending signals for his heart to beat and to breath. No other signals are being sent. Tsunade thinks long and hard about a cure to Guy's brainlessness. However, the Hokage fails to find one. She settles for performing multiple risk free procedures that can do nothing but help, focusing on ones that disrupt long lasting jutsu, and ones that help restart the brain. Nothing helps. Eventually, the Hokage has Guy moved to his home. His students stick with him the entire time.

As Guy is being moved, Naruto opens the door to his home to find Kazue crying on the floor with uneaten food behind her. Maru watches her silently, trying to think of a way to cheer his partner up.

"What happened?" Naruto asks. He rushes forward as if he was going to help Kazue with something that requires his physical contact.

"We went on a mission. The Digimon we were fighting got to Guy, and he's brainless now. She's blaming herself." Maru answers.

Kazue doesn't acknowledge Naruto entering the room, or his question.

"Something's happened to Guy? I've got to go see him." Naruto says, eyes frantically looking for things to grab on the way there.

Maru finally has an idea to cheer his partner up. He walks up to her and gently prods her with his foot. "Come on. We're going." He says gently.

Kazue just nods her head no.

"We're going to see Guy." Maru says.

Kazue looks at Maru for a long moment then nods her consent. She gets up slowly.

Some time later, Naruto loudly enters Guy's room. He sees Tsunade and Guy's Team around his bed. He also sees Kakashi on another bed on the other side of the small room. Naruto's sensei is staring at Guy, but he is deep in thought.

"Has anything worked?" Naruto asks Tsunade. He, like everyone else in the room, looks at Guy, his eyes huge as he takes in the first time he's ever seen Guy quiet. The Hokage looks at the blonde ninja, but doesn't say anything. Tsunade tries another chakra injection, but Guy doesn't respond. Tsunade lets out a sigh and slumps against a wall, mentally exhausted. She happens to glance outside the window over Guy's bed. She sees Kazue and Maru walking towards Guy's house.

Maru is holding his partner's hand, and almost pulling her forward. Kazue's eyes are puffy, her feet bare, and she stumbles forward in a daze. They almost look like an adult leading a traumatized child, but Maru is much shorter, and looks much different than any human adult.

They walk into the building, then Guy's room. Maru does a quick scan of the room, and sits Kazue down next to Kakashi.

All tenderness leaves Maru's movements as he turns to Guy. He positions himself behind Guy's head. He takes a quick glance at Tsunade, who is close to Guy's bedside. The Wizardmon places both his hands on Guy's bowl cut, messing it up a bit. He closes his eyes in concentration. His hands glow a soft, light blue, Minutes pass, and everyone watches the Wizardmon work anxiously. Maru flinches, and everyone jumps after seven minutes, but the Wizardmon doesn't move his hands

"It's done." Maru declares. The Wizardmon removes his hands from Guy's head. Nothing happens for a moment. Then, Guy jumps up, and delivers a high roundhouse kick to the space behind him, above Maru's head. He hits, and destroys, part of a wooden wall. Maru doesn't bother moving, too short to be in any real danger. The ninja realizes that the now dead Devimon is no longer behind him. It takes him another moment to realize that he's back in his house, surrounded by people from his own village. Because of this, he smiles brightly.

Lee lets out a girlish squeal of joy. Everyone else, baring Maru, doesn't hold back has varying degrees of less feminine, positive, reactions.

Maru smiles, satisfied by his work. It's hidden by his collar.

There is a small, but loud celebration at Guy's mind returning. Tsunade ends up giving everyone present a couple of days off. Kazue and Maru excuse themselves early. They begin walking back to Naruto's. They don't set a very brisk pace. Maru's thoughts quickly turn dark as he thinks about the effects of Guy being disabled left on Kazue.

Maru interrupts his partner's happy thoughts without even looking at his partner while he says,"Kazue. I can't have you turning into a pile of mush every time someone here dies or gets hurt. I don't care how heartless this sounds. People die. I'm keeping you and me safe. That's it. As soon as protecting someone else gets in the way of protecting you, I'm leaping to your side without a second thought. But even if I keep you safe, you can't just break down because someone else got hurt."

By now, the mood is thoroughly ruined. Nonetheless, Maru looks into Kazue's eyes as he continues,"Seriously, you don't really know Guy. You've met him what, thrice? You just can't-"

"I'm sorry!" Kazue yells, wrenching her head away from Maru's eyesight. She hangs her head and continues," I'm sorry. I just couldn't do it. We just failed the our village. We lost…. everyone. I don't think I can take any more deaths. We can't fail anyone else."

Maru almost continues the conversation, even though it isn't going as he had hoped. Then he thinks it would be better to just drop it. They get make it back to Naruto's without another word. They make a quick meal, and go to bed quickly, not having slept in over a day.

Maru ends up using his partner's thigh as a pillow again. Half an hour later, they are both wide awake, despite being tired. Maru turns to Kazue, looks into her eyes and declares," I miss my tail."

Kazue cocks her head in confusion.

Maru turns again until he's staring at the ceiling. Then he says," And I'm sorry for what I said earlier. You deserve better than that."

Kazue rubs what she can reach of Maru's head. "It's alright." She sighs. "You're just trying to make me a bit tougher. It's not like you don't have a right to be worried.." They fall asleep soon after.


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer- I own neither Naruto or Digimon**

 **I'm trying to improve how I tag** **dialogue. So if you notice an improvement or if you can't make out who's talking, lemme know. Or don't. I know who is talking.**

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The next morning they wake up late, but both are feeling good. They decide to dedicate the next couple days off to training.

They go to a barren field to train. Maru decides to teach himself some form of healing jutsu. He creates dozen of shadow clones to try different ideas to learn a way to mend flesh. They spread all over the field half the field, various clones end up with their hands glowing different shades from chakra. A few of the clones even have fire, lightning, and water in their hands.

Kazue focuses on her kekkei genkia, trying to finally finish controlling the bloodline trait completely. An hour into she feels like she finally has a stable control. Naruto arrives, and decides to join the two in training. Feeling accomplished, she decides her next task is to spar Naruto. Maru makes another clone and dedicates it to watching them fight.

They both start fighting using taijutsu. Kazue's greater speed allows her to defend herself comfortably from Naruto's wild style of fighting. However, she has to stick with deflecting or dodging Naruto's strikes, as Naruto's greater strength would force her to slow down to the point where Naruto's follow-up strike would be able to hit her if she tries blocking. Naruto ends up being on the offensive most of the time, with Kazue defending herself and waiting for the right time to strike.

A few times, she sees an opening and goes for on the attack. Despite this, after going on the offensive four times, she doesn't manage to land one debilitating blow.

Two minutes into the taijutsu only match, Naruto disengages. Both ninjas are beginning to pant. "Step it up a notch?" Naruto asks, a smile crossing his face at the prospect of their fight expanding.

"Sure." Kazue says, nodding.

Naruto makes three shadow clones. Four Narutos charge Kazue. She draws her sword. The first blow is a punch from a clone on her right. Kazue has time to slap it away with the flat of her blade, avoiding amputating an arm with the edge just in case it is the real one. She spins to face the original, who is on her left. Naruto aims a fast, high kick at her as she does. Kazue doesn't have time to properly deflect the blow, so she raises her arm to block, settling for taking the hit with her arm instead of her head.

Naruto's kick hits Kazue's block. Although he doesn't hit her head, one hand wasn't enough to absorb the full force of the blow properly. Kazue staggers. Naruto, grinning, creates two more shadow clones. A clone attempts to kick the recovering Kazue into the air as the five Narutos jump high into the air, preparing an Uzumaki Barrage.

This is when Kazue activates her kekkei genkia. The clone's attempt to trip her passes right through her intangible leg. Kazue whirls, and stabs into the clone's thigh. The clone dissipates.

The Narutos all exclaim,"What?" For a moment, they collectively forgot to move. But when they do act, Naruto and the five clones move as one. One clone grabs the original, spins in the air, and throws him across the battlefield. A different clone does the same for another different clone, except this time, the clone is thrown the other direction.

Three of the remaining clones form one enormous Rasengan. The last clone dissipates to conserve chakra. Kazue runs to her right avoiding both the giant Rasengan and not heading to either Naruto or the clone that was thrown. The Narutos group together, then collectively charge Kazue. Kazue raises her blade defensively, but then reconsiders and sheaths it. She takes up a taijutsu stance, tired of not being able to strike Naruto for fear of injury.

She redirects the first punch that comes her way, and the second. The third is a kick, and would land, but Kazue activates her kekkei genkia just long enough to not be injured by the blow, and delivers a kick that sends the offending clone to the ground to dissipate.

The rest of the Naruto clones are destroyed in a similar fashion, with Kazue using her kekkei genkai to completely ignore Naruto's attacks while making it easy for her to land her own. Before all of the clones are destroyed, Naruto takes a hard punch to the gut.

He disengages and gasps,"Okay, that's annoying!"

Kazue just grins victoriously and says,"I don't think you are getting past it. And you should see what others have been able to do with it."

"Any hints on getting past it?" Naruto asks. He's now caught his breath.

"Hope I mess up?" Kazue answers, shrugging. She's still giddy about her increased control over her kekkei genkai. The kunoichi is almost bouncing with joy.

"That sucks. Ima train until I think of a way around it. When I do, I'm coming back for you, believe it!" Naruto moves to a different part of the field and starts training by himself.

Maru continues trying to teach himself a way to heal. Kazue continues to train herself in the use of her kekkei genkia. She trains different way than before. She holds an arm out, takes her other hand and tries to chop through her arm with her kekkei genkia, then chop against, but not through her fist while keeping her kekkei genkia activated. She fails repeatedly either going through both her arm and her fist or going through neither of them. She keeps trying, and Naruto ends up noticing the irregular training method.

He runs over and ask," What are you doing?"

She looks up to answer,"I'm trying to teach myself how to have my kekkei genkia on for only part of my body. So I can avoid an attack and hit someone at the same time. It'll a pretty useful skill when I can learn it. Almost constant invulnerability and wide open attacks."

"Wow. Sounds pretty nice. I really need to up my training if I'm going to beat something like that." Naruto says, rubbing the back of his head as he talks.

Naruto returns to his own training, and Kazue does the same. Two hours later, Kazue makes no progress and suggests a food break. Maru agrees even though he isn't tired or hungry, and his shadow clones disappear in flashes of white smoke. Maru's body seizes up as his brain is assaulted with the findings of dozens of clones. However, a few moments later, the Wizardmon has full control of his body, and makes a mental note to not go through that again.

Kazue and Maru go towards Naruto's home. They eat a small meal, wanting to get back to their training as soon as possible. The entire time, Maru mulls over what he and his clones learned. He has an idea halfway through his meal, but decides to test it later. They eat quickly and silently, both wanting to get back to training.

After they eat, they discuss any new ways they could work together in a fight. They don't come up with many new attacks, but do come up with using substitution jutsu on each other while Kazue has her kekkei genkia on, or while Maru is invisible.

Then, they return to training, encountering a somewhat tired Naruto on his way back to his home.

Once they return to the field, Kazue watches Maru test his healing technique. The Wizardmon starts by forces a blade of earth deep into his leg. He lets out a small grunt, and Kazue flinches at her partner hurting himself. The blade removes itself from Maru's flesh without the Digimon touching it. Then, he holds a palm open, and a surprisingly, normal looking fire starts in his hand. He holds it to his bleeding wound. Both Kazue and Maru are entranced by the small flame. It spreads to his bleeding leg. The fire doesn't go beyond the wound. Instead of burning the Wizardmon's flesh, his skin regrows, and underneath the skin muscles regrow. While he is healing he feels the fire leaving a warm, soothing feeling not dissimilar to healing jutsu. As the final hole in Maru's flesh heals, the fire goes out.

"Mind if I test it on you?" Maru walks to towards his partner.

"Sure." Kazue holds out an arm.

Another blade of earth separates itself from the ground and cuts Kazue's bicep. This blade is much thinner and doesn't go very deep. Kazue lets out a hiss in pain and jerks her arm a bit. As the blade of earth falls, another fireball appears in Maru's hand. This time, the healing fireball maneuvers to Kazue's cut. Again, skin is regrown with a warm, soothing feeling. Kazue looks at her arm in amazement.

"I'll be able to convert this into larger gouts of flames when I want. I won't need to be right by someone's side as I heal them either." Although Maru's voice doesn't betray it, the Wizardmon has surprised himself with the quality of the healing technique he has created. He knows he needs to still have it checked for side effects.

After Kazue gives Maru a lot of praise and quite a few hugs, training resumes again. Maru creates three clones that develop and practice new skills while the original trains. Maru creates another clone, which transforms into a ninja. Maru fights against his transformed clone, making a new one whenever he kills the transformed clone.

Kazue returns to her kekkei genkai does the same things as last time, and makes similar, non-existent progress. The kunoichi refuses to give up, and her enthusiasm doesn't change despite consistent failure.

After about half an hour, Maru decides to start fighting multiple clones at the same time. Some transform into large Digimons like Greymon and Tyranomon, while others transform into fast, masked ninja. Maru ends up mostly dodging against an onslaught of clone attacks. But when he does attack, with a quick burst of lightning or fire, a clone 'dies' every time.

Without Kazue's or Maru's knowledge, Team Eight enters the field that they are training on. The team of Hinata, Kiba, and Shino aren't training, just going for a stroll on their day off. Team Eight and Maru notice each other at the same time. Maru's still fighting his clones, and pays them no mind.

Kazue fails to notice Team Eight's presence, completely focused on figuring out her kekkei genkai trick. Team Eight starts to go over to say hi, but Kiba holds an arm out to stop his team. I smile stretches on Kiba's face as he says,"I'm gonna prank her."

"Um, I don't think that's a good idea." Hinata is twiddling her fingers.

"Oh come on! It's not like I'm gonna hurt her or anything, just scare her a bit." Kiba gestures wildly as he talks.

"I don't see any harm in this." Shino says, watching Kazue to find out what she is doing.

"See? No harm done." Kiba says.

"Oh… I guess…" Hinata , still twiddling her fingers.

With that, Kiba starts sneaking up on Kazue. Akamaru stay next to Hinata and Shino, laying on the ground, panting, with his large tail slapping the ground from fierce wagging.

Kiba sneaks up on Kazue as much as he dares, which ends up being around fifteen feet. Then Kiba goes on all fours, smiling. Then, he leaps at Kazue, aiming for the back of her head. Kazue is completely oblivious the entire time.

As Kazue is about to try again, Kiba grabs her by her right shoulder. Kiba then pushes hard, sending Kazue to the ground and allowing himself to flip mid-jump and land some ten feet away. He hears Kazue let out a shocked gasp as she goes down. He turns, expecting to see Kazue on her butt. What he sees makes him cover his hands with his mouth to prevent a sound containing mixture of surprise and concern.

When Kiba had grabbed her shoulder, Kazue thought she was under some kind of attack. Right after Kiba threw her to the ground, she had turned on her kekkei genkai because she expecting someone to attempt to stab her, not to be thrown. But because her kekkei genkai allows her to pass through everything, she falls straight into the ground. Before her entire body falls into the ground, she manages to stop her descent with a hand. The kekkei genkai is still completely on, and Kazue stopping herself is completely instinctual, with her body doing something she herself did not know she could do. About half of her body is currently in the ground, with the right side of her body above the ground,

She's scared. Scared enough to tremble, scared enough to make her bottom lip quiver. She's scared because she knows that the slightest mistake can mean her falling through the ground until she runs out of chakra and dies. She's scared because, she's in the middle of the person who she looked up to the most told her to avoid.

Maru is by her side in an instant. To say the Digimon is angry is an understatement. Maru wants to skin Kiba, and cut whatever remains into inch by inch squares to feed to Akamaru. However, all of the anger drowns in a sea of concern. He'd seen someone almost lose an arm to recklessly using the kekkei genkai around walls.

The Wizardmon immediately begins thinking up solutions. Substitution would, at best kill him for sure and Kazue may still fall through the ground, so he puts it as last resort. The Digimon glances at Kazue's right foot. He notes that her shoes have fallen off. He considers digging the ground that Kazue is on with a Rasengan or earth style jutsu. He goes through with it in his head, and he realizes that Kazue would fall with the ground she is on, and end up in the same situation, but in a hole.

The Wizardmon thinks of three more solutions, but none of them work when Maru plays them through in his mind. During this time, Kazue begins taking deep breaths to calm herself. Team Eight surrounds Kazue, but keep ten feet away. All of them are surprised and worried, and Kiba has regret gripping his heart.

Maru thinks of having a clone dig underground, then creating a hole under Kazue so she can fall into the hole and turn deactivate the kekkei genkai as she falls. He approves of it, and makes two clones a few feet away from Kazue. Together, Maru clones create a Rasengan as wide as a person is tall, and begin pressing it into the ground, creating a tunnel.

Then, Maru realizes a surefire solution, to have a clone use substitution. A clone dies, a little chakra is lost, but in the end, no one gets crippled or killed. He creates another clone.

"I think I've got this Maru."

Maru looks at Kazue, surprise actually showing on his usually expressionless face. The Wizardmon shakes his head, but doesn't have his clone substitute just yet. "No. You've nothing to prove." He stares into Kazue's eyes.

"I'm not going to learn if you just get me out this. Just trust me. Please."

"He told you to avoid this! You're not ready!" Maru hadn't yelled this desperately in all his time as a Wizardmon.

"I know! I know! Just believe in my okay?"

Maru decides to trust his partner. He lets her know with a nod. Kazue takes one deep, somewhat shaky breath.

"Just like standing on a wall." Kazue says aloud to herself. Kazue focuses on what she's doing with her right hand. She tries to replicate it with her right foot. She finds that she can stop herself from passing through by excluding chakra from the specific body part. She puts her foot on the ground and begins to stand. She makes it most the way out of the ground before she messed up.

She doesn't supply enough chakra to her foot, and she slips back into the ground with a yelp. Kazue manages to stop herself with her left hand.

Maru has his clone go for substitution, but stops when he sees Kazue stop herself from falling completely. He has his clone finish the hand signs for substitution, leaving only a surge of chakra needed to get Kazue out of the ground.

Both of her hands are on the ground, keeping her upper body above the ground. She has to take a few more deep breaths before she continues. She decides to try to become proficient in this part of her kekkei genkai before trying to get out. Although the slip scared her, concentration has replaced fear, causes her brow to furrow.

She slides her hand forward, transferring the job of keeping part herself above ground transferring to her wrist, then her arm. She thinks that becoming proficient this part of her kekkei genkai is somewhat necessary to get out of the ground, but does not fret because Maru is there to save her if she fails. She coats her back in a layer of chakra, and pushes backwards softly pushes backwards. She finds herself unable to back up. She does the same with her stomach, and gets identical results.

Team Eight doesn't know that she has stopped trying to get out of the ground, and none of their anxiety fades at all. They briefly consider running for help, but don't have any idea who would be able to help Kazue. Maru's fear has faded as he watches his partner

Kazue spends another minute in the ground, testing out various parts of her body, and finds herself finding the same results. Her kekkei genkai has been on the entire time. She decides it's time for her to try to leave again. She presses her palms against the ground, and begins pulling herself out of the ground. She pulls out a knee places it against the ground, and hauls herself up.

Now completely above the floor, she flops back onto the floor, and lets out a huge sigh of relief and relaxes. Maru lets out a similar sigh. Shino lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding and looks away. Hinata jumps in joy and claps a bit. Kiba approaches Kazue, his head hung in shame. He rubs the back of his head, as he talks," Hey… I'm sorry. I didn't know that would happen. Yeah… um sorry."

"No harm, no foul right? I'm not going to hold a grudge, you just messed up." Kazue tries flashing Kiba a smile to cheer him up.

Maru gives out a thoroughly annoyed grunt, and stomps off to resume training. Team Eight only notices a small grunt and the Wizardmon walking off, but Kazue can tell her partner is annoyed. Kazue watching her friend is interrupted by Kiba.

The dog loving shinobi lets out a Naruto-like yell as an idea pops into his head." I know! Let us make it up to you! Lunch! Our treat!"

Maru turns at Kiba's suggestion."We need to keep training Kazue."

Kazue looks at Team Eight, then Maru. She shrugs,"In an hour?"

"Fine." Maru turns back to resume training. The Digimon has some frustration to unleash on clones. Realizes exactly how Kazue is about to train he turns again, this time quickly. "Shoes on. Now."

Kazue has one foot in the air, and another on the ground. She was about to do more kekkei genkia practice before Maru spoke up.

"C'mon I just-"

"Shoes. Now." Maru interrupts her, speaking in a no-nonsense tone.

Kazue rolls her eyes and says,"Fine."

"Why are your shoes so important?" Shino stares at Kazue's sandals, looking for any kind of irregularities.

"We'll you've saw my kekkei genkia just now. We usually find out whether or not someone in the family has it or not while they are about eight. But kids can't really be expected to not fall into every single thing they meet. So, we treat our clothes to prevent them from doing so. As they get older we isolate it to shoes and once someone has gotten a complete mastery of the part of the kekkei genkai, they can wear normal shoes." While she talks, she puts on her shoes.

"Hold up. What are you going to do now if you keep growing? No one's left to keep you-proofing your clothes." Shino lets out a little sigh at the vocabulary with Kiba's question.

"Oh, Maru knows how to do it." Kazue looks at her partner as he talks,"I didn't let him fight for a long time, so he studied a lot of the village's secrets. Some of his studies were allowed, but some others weren't. A ton of knowledge would of been lost if Maru hadn't kept getting into places. I didn't think he would ever need to use any of our secrets. He can't use most of them right now because of his level of chakra, but I think he is holding back the ones he can. I'm not sure why though..."

"Are you sure about his chakra level? My Byakugan eyes have seen only a few things with more chakra then he has."

The Wizardmon that they are talking about is now pummeling clones.

"Yeah, there's some pretty taxing stuff he knows. Remember that huge fireball at the Chunin Exams? Not even the tip of the iceberg."

"What exactly was that?" Shino asks, trying to catch Kazue's every word.

"That was his Imitation Jutsu. Was a pretty rare thing among our village. Lets the user use any type of jutsu or attack as someone he has seen do it. Doesn't take up anymore chakra than it would for the original user, unless the user is unusually good or something. Weird thing about that move is even though humans made jutsu, Digimons used it a lot more. Only two people I knew used it, my brother…. And the KamiKage actually used it regularly. It was rarely used among Digimons too."

"C'mon enough bugging her! I've got an appetite to work up." Akamaru barks in agreement with his partner.

Team Eight goes off to spar on the other side of the field, while Kazue and Maru don't move to train. Maru fights clones again, this time fighting harder, and throwing harder clones at himself than before. Kazue resumes training herself in her kekkei genkai, this time she is raising a shoeless foot in the air (with the other foot having a shoe on), then turning her kekkei genkai on and making sure her foot doesn't go lower than ground level. Eventually, she switches feet.

Maru keeps fighting his clones. After ten minutes, he sees Kazue crouching on the ground, about to practice her kekkei genkai with her hands. He dissipates his clones and flies over to Kazue. He is back to expressing nothing in body language or speech,and Kazue notices,"At least practice using a tree or something that won't be fatal if you mess up."

"Okay." Kazue can't find a reason to disagree, so she goes to the nearest tree, and practices not putting her hand in and out of the tree with her kekkei genkia on.

Maru decides to switch from sparring his own clones to practicing his own attacks. The Wizardmon ends up destroying the ground around him, leaving patches burnt or frozen or smashed.

When the rest of the hour is up, Team Eight leads Kazue and a reluctant Maru restaurant they like. To Kazue's present surprise, the food they serve is healthy enough to be on a ninja's regular diet and they even have food for Akamaru. Maru, being short and not transformed, is barely above the level of the table. This brings laughing and prodding from Kazue. Howe While they wait for their food to arrive, Shino is the first to interrupt meaningless gossip.

"You mentioned a brother earlier. Would you mind telling me about him? If you don't mind, of course." Shino wants to learn all he can about Kazue and Maru.

"Hey man, don't you think that's a little..."Kiba pauses, searching for the right word,"... insensitive?"

"No no, it's fine. Talking might do me some good. My brother… he was phenomenal. They say my kekkei genkai doesn't show itself in my family often. So rare that even though that my family was one of the big founders, we had almost become unheard of. Said my brother was the first in generations to have it. And he was really, really, good at it. All he had to go on were some old texts and he was able to master our kekkei genkai completely by himself."

"And he was great at everything else too. Easily the second strongest ninja in the village, and maybe even the strongest. Could take on some of the strongest Digimons in the village. If the Kamikage was a few years younger, my brother might of been nominated." She smiles a small, sad smile.

"He was always so kind too. He made sure I felt safe and happy and loved all of the time. And he made sure I was strong too. At first. I didn't even want to become a shinobi, but he made me do it. A week in, and I wasn't even mad at him. He was always protecting me and always pushing me. He taught me almost everything to do with the kekkei genkai. He even laid out a plan " A single tear rolls down Kazue's cheek as she thinks of her older brother.

"Did he have a partner like you?"

"Yep. It was a Crowmon, then a Ravemon then it went Burst Mode. His name was Kaze. He was really strong too, and was always trying to obey the rules. Wasn't very social, and always observing things. I barely remember it's Peckmon days."

"How did they die?" Shino asks.

"Well… a few days before you guys showed up to my village, we'd gotten word that the Olympus Twelve were near. We sent a Digimon to talk to them, and they killed it. Ceresmon, a huge bird, attacked. The Kamikage, my brother, Kaze and a couple of Digimons were able to drive it off pretty easily."

"Afterward, the village elders wanted to fortify, the village and wait for them to come back. The Kamikage and my brother wanted to go take the fight to the Olympus Twelve so no villagers would get hurt. But the elders outvoted the Kamikage. My brother didn't care though. He said that the elders were underestimating the Olympus Twelve, and he wouldn't have me and them in the same village."

"So that night… my brother lead some of the most powerful shinobi and Digimon to the Olympus Twelve… but he hadn't gotten enough people. Maru snuck into the attack force and watched." Kazue holds her breath for a few moments, trying not to burst into outright tears in the middle of a restaurant.

"Maru and two wounded Digimons came back the next morning…" Another is sob choked back. "He said that half of the Olympus Twelve were dead, and three wounded badly. But almost no one made it back from the attack… Then… the next day… the remainder of the Olympus Twelve came back, and everyone fought them. Our strongest Digimons were left dead or severely weakened, and the Kamikage was drained. Afterwards we sent people looking for the bodies of my brother's attack force. And most of them were found… but no one was able to find my brother's body. Maru said that... That… that Dianamon-"

"You don't have to say anything!" Hinata grabs Kazue hands, which were resting on the table. None of the ninjas notice that Maru is angry. His anger isn't directed at anyone present, and he just stares off into space, making it look as if he was spaced out.

Their food arrives, and Kazue grabs a napkin to dry her face the conversation dies. They eat quickly, and quietly, all pleasant emotions drained by Kazue's breakdown. However, negative emotions fade like their hunger as they eat. Team Eight splits the bill afterward, and and Team Eight decides to help Kazue some new shoes that don't prevent Kazue's kekkei genkai.

Afterward, Maru insists on returning to the field to train. So, they do. Both of them end up practicing separately. They both end up practicing their attacks, with Maru trying to develop new ones along the way. Nobody enters the field and interrupts their training. Hours pass. The sun is fading over the mountains when Kazue decides that they have had a enough training for one day. They return to Naruto's and find Naruto home.

Once Kazue settles in, Maru starts heading to the door. "Where are you going?" Kazue truly has no idea where her partner is going.

"I'm going to continue training." Maru waits a moment, then walks out the door. Kazue thinks the Wizardmon has done enough training, but doesn't voice her thoughts. An hour later, the sun has truly set, and Kazue seeks out Maru. She finds him training at the same field they spent the day training in. She sits down to watch. Maru notices his partner's arrival, but doesn't do anything to acknowledge her.

Kazeu speaks after a few minutes of watching," You don't have to train so hard, you know."

"I do." Maru doesn't turn to speak to Kazue.

Time passes. Naruto shows up, as he had been looking for the two of them.

"C'mon Maru. We should head home." Kazue isn't begging, but there is a bit of a pleading tone in her voice. She sounds tired more than anything.

"She's got a point you know. You need a good night's sleep."

"Shut up."

"Don't talk to your partner that way!"

"I wasn't. I was talking to the idiot."

"I'm not an idiot!"

"You know nothing."

"Stop it Maru!" Kazue glares at Maru.

"If I'm the idiot, then how come I'm not the one exhausting myself for no reason!" Naruto leans forward and raises a clenched fist as if he was challenging the Wizardmon.

"Because your will is lesser than mine."

"What!?"

"Maru…" Kazue's attempt to stop her partner from fighting is ignored again.

"Who the hell are you to call me weak!" Naruto begins to glare at the Digimon.

"Someone strong."

"Is that why you're being such a jerk? Because you wanna be strong? Guess what, you don't need to be strong by yourself! That's why we have teams! Why we have a Hokage, and-"

"WE HAD STRONG PEOPLE!" Maru is screaming more than yelling" I watched them all die! And look where they got us! They are all dead!" Maru starts pacing, fists clenching and relaxing multiple times."The Kamikage was supposed to keep us safe! Kazue's brother was supposed to keep us safe! Why are we still alive, Kazue? WHY?! Because we were LUCKY!" At this, Maru accidently lets out a wave of chakra, turning the grass around him into a ashes. "I'm not standing for that ever again. Kazue. I'm protecting you, no matter what. And protecting you means becoming the strongest, because I can't count on anyone else, because everyone else has failed." The Wizardmon doesn't know if he is addressing himself, or Kazue or Naruto.

"When did I fail? When did Tsunade fail? When did Kakashi fail? You can't say someone has failed before they have a chance to do anything!" Naruto protests.

Maru whirls on the Uzumaki."The Kamikage could've destroyed everything here with ease! And HE failed. Whoever was controlling the Olympus Twelve is still out there. A dozen gods don't attack a village for no reason! Whoever did that is still alive! Can Kakashi stop him? Can Tsunade? Can any of your Kage? No! No! NO!" Every 'no' is punctuated by a furious rise and fall of Maru's arms.

"That's why I can't depend on anyone! Why I've got to be stronger than everyone! If I'm not…" Maru's voice suddenly turns to one of a somber, mourning person instead of the voice of an enraged Digimon."If I'm not… then I'll lose you." Then, the fire in his voice returns,"So I'm not! Not going to lose you. Not going to lose, ever! I will be the strongest! And ever-"

"We don't need this Maru! Look at all I got done today, all you got done today! We're going to be just fine." Kazue gets right in front of Maru.

Maru can't find the will to yell at his partner any longer. "You're wrong. We aren't going to be just fine. I must get stronger. I must-"

Kazue tries harder to get Maru to stop, and more importantly, sleep. "But you don't need become the strongest today. Today, we are just fine. Okay? You can become the strongest without going this way."

"Fine." Maru relents not because he believes his partner or Naruto, but because he already has a plan he is thinking up.

The three go back to Naruto's home. Another hour passes as tensions fade. Then, they decide to go to sleep. As soon as Maru is certain that Kazue is fast asleep, the Wizardmon silently floats up, opens the door, and leaves Konoha in the dark of the night.


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer- I don't own Naruto or Digimon**

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 **Sorry this took so long to put out. I have no excuse.**

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When Kazue wakes up the next morning, she immediately notices the absence of Maru. She says the Wizardmon's name aloud as if Maru would be summoned by the mere saying of the Digmon's name. But, to Kazue's despair, Maru doesn't show.

Fifteen minutes later, Tsunade is surprised when Kazue walks through the door while she is doing paperwork. Kazue doesn't walk through the door like a normal person, opening the door, walking through, and then closing the door. Kazue walks straight through the wood with her kekkei genkai on.

"Did you do anything to Maru?" The question is said in a manner that demands an immediate answer.

The Hokage is surprised by both Kazue's appearance and her question. She answers,"No." Before the Hokage can address how to properly address superiors, Kazue turns and walks through the door again. Tsunade decides to let it go, and returns to her paperwork.

Kazue spends the day looking for Maru, first by looking for people she know and asking if they have seen Maru. All she finds is that no one has seen the Wizardmon since , she resorts to searching places in Kohona they've been. Kiba and Naruto both volunteer to help, but Kiba and Akamaru fail to track his scent and Naruto isn't able to do much but look. The whole day goes by without Kazue finding Maru or a trace of why he left. She goes to bed depressed, with Naruto trying and failing to cheer her up.

The next day, she doesn't have the energy to search for Maru. She wanders a bit, not knowing what to do. She ends up curling up against a random wooden fence, Kazue's knees are hugging her chest, Her arms are wrapped around her legs. She stays there, wondering why Maru has left her.

She doesn't notice Shikamaru turning the corner and seeing her.

"Maru still hasn't shown up?" The spiky haired ninja leans against the wall. Kazue shakes her head no. "Well, that's a drag," Shikamaru sits down next to the kunoichi. "Tell me why he left again."

"I don't know. He wants to train more but… would he really leave me alone just so he can be strong!?"

"No… that just doesn't make sense. He wants to be strong to protect you so if he leaves, then he isn't protecting you. Maybe Maru just wants to clear his head."

"For two days? Without telling me?" Kazue cries out.

Shikamaru sighs," Yeah, good point. Hmmmm. Is there something he has that you didn't like? Something he's ashamed off? Maybe he left because there is something he has to take care off…" Shikamaru glances at Kazue and thinks" _Crap! This isn't helping."_

"Look the point is Maru will be back. I dunno when he'll be back, or why he left, but he truly cares about you. Remember back at the Chunnin Exams, where he did that giant fireball move? He did that because he saw those dragon things looking at you. Okay?"

Hearing Shikamaru alleviates some of her worry, and nods. To her surprise, Shikiamaru wraps an arm around her, grabbing the shoulder farthest from him. He pulls Kazue close, hugging her.

"Look, if Maru hasn't come back in two days, I'll convince the Hokage to let me, Choji, Kiba and Neji go hunt him down and bring him back. Deal?" Shikamaru doesn't wait for an answer, he gets up, and offers to help Kazue up too. He helps her up.

Beginning to walk away, Shikamaru barely hears Kazue say,"Thanks." He glances back, seeing Kazue looking down at the ground. He reckons he did cheer her up a bit, though.

"No problem. If you need a distraction, you and I could probably go raid Choji's food. Choji will probably end up joining us, but the offer still stands." As he leaves, Shikamaru waves, even though he isn't facing Kazue. Shikamaru heads towards Tsunade at a fast pace, worried about having such an unusual creature as Maru loose. More so, he's worried about the well being of Kazue.

Alone again, Kazue decides it's about time she does something decision to get stronger is made. She begins running. Not an all-out sprint, but the pace of a five minute mile. Twenty minutes into her run, Naruto, Sakura and Sai jump into her path.

Naruto yells,"Surprise!" He tries to kick out one of Kazue's legs.

Instead of falling, Kazue jumps over the kick, yelling,"What the hell!" She stops turns to Naruto and gives him a " _what in the world are you doing"_ look. She's panting, but not very tired, as shinobi are expected to run at that five-minute mile pace for much longer on missions.

"I figured you're still down, so we are going to cheer you up!" Once he's finished talking, Naruto smiles like a child proud of what he just accomplished.

"Well c'mon!" Naruto makes to grab Kazue's hand, but she pulls it back before he can grab it.

"Naruto!" Sakura punches Naruto's head. "You don't treat a lady like that!"

"Hey! Ow! Next time just tell me stop!" Naruto watches Sakura for a moment, making sure there aren't any more punches coming his way. Then he starts running, yelling," C'mon! We're going to be late!"

Sai says,"He's always energetic, isn't he?" He smiles, and Kazue has trouble telling whether or not the smile is fake. Sakura, Kazue and Sai end up following Naruto. He leads them to another field, the same field Team Guy trained with Kazue and Maru before the Chunin Exams. They see Team Eight waiting for them.

After greetings, they hear a battle cry and a yell,"Duck!" All of Team Seven, Eight, and Kazue duck. Wind can be felt on Kazue's back as Lee goes flying over her, Neji's warning giving her enough time to get out the way. Lee ends up falling into the lack.

He emerges and points at Kazue,"Hey! I thought she was the one that was going in the water!"

"And I thought I told you that was too much." Neji says as he and Tenten approach. Both are smiling at Lee's predicament.

"Where's Ino and her team?" Sakura asks. She turns and glares at Naruto,"Did you forget to tell Shikamaru?"

"Ummm, no?" Is her answer.

Sakura lets out a defeated sigh, and her shoulder sag."You're hopeless you know."

"I know!"

"Ughhh!" Sakura goes to pummel Naruto, but the blonde hides behind Sai, then Lee, then Tenten until Sakura decides that he isn't worth the effort.

Tenten exposes Naruto to everyone else by moving to the and asks,"So, what do you have planned?"

Naruto scratches the back of his and says,"Well, I was gonna have Shikamaru think something up… so we'll just let Lee decide!" Naruto chooses the closest ninja that he can see, which happens to be the one with the biggest eyebrows.

Everyone but Kazue, Naruto and Lee lets out a groan, already knowing that Lee will have them do something extreme. Kazue's eyebrows arch in amusement to the collective groan.

"Alright! Since I am the one choosing, I choose we are going have fight! We will distract ourselves and train at the same time!" Lee points to the sky to empathize his point.

"So what are we gonna do? Just a free for all?" Kiba asks. Considering has he is one of two ninja with a partner, the idea of every ninja for himself excites him.

Starting the jump forward with an objection, Neji settles for rocking forward a bit. " _Last time we did something like this it ended three on one. Not happening again."_

"If we're going to do this, we are going to have two teams, where we have them fight one at a time. Whoever loses gets eliminated. After the first five fights we'll have whoever isn't eliminated will fight whoever is left on the other side."

"Sounds good! How are we picking teams?" Naruto asks.

A collective shrug doesn't properly answer Naruto's question. Eight ninja jump to two sides, with Naruto, Hinata, Kiba (Akamaru following), and Lee on one side. Neji, Tenten, Shino, and Sakura go to the other side. Sai, Kazue and Maru are left in the middle.

"Well that was decisive." Sai smiles, and Kazue still can't tell whether or not it is genuine. Sai heads over to Naruto's side, so Kazue heads over the side Neji is on.

"I'll go first!" Lee yells. He runs to the space between the two teams.

No one goes to challenge him.

"Alright. Guess it's me then." Kazue says. Thinking of her improved control of her kekkei genkai will make the fight easier, Kazue smiles.

Lee takes a fighting stance. "Alright! You and I will get to have a rematch!" Everyone but Kazue and Lee take a few steps back.

The fight starts with Lee charging Kazue.

She goes on the defensive, The first roundhouse kick at her head is ducked. The following punch slapped aside. This continues, Kazue dodging or deflecting each of Lee's attacks. Focusing on kicks, Lee hopes to overpower his opponent. Kazue finds protecting herself from each blow is becoming more and more desperate.

Eventually, Lee creates and exploits a gap in Kazue's guard. He and the other shinbo present realize it at the same time, that Lee's kick will impact right under Kazue's ribs. Defying the attending members of the Kohana 11's expectation for her to try to lessen the damage Lee will do, or try to substitute out of it, she starts heading towards Lee and his kick.

Turning her kekkei genkai on, Kazue forces Lee's kick to pass right through her. After deactivating her kekkei genkai, Kazue buries her fist in Lee's stomach. Lee stumbles back a few feet from the blow, but recovers quickly. He goes back into his fighting stance, not even having the wind knocked out of him.

"Come on! If you want to defeat me, you will have to hit harder than that!" The fingers Lee's outstretched hand beckon Kazue to resume fighting.

Kazue takes up her own fighting stance. "If you want to defeat me, you'll have to touch me."

Charging, Kazue is the first to restart the fight. Her attacks focus more on speed than power, attempting to find a hole in Lee's guard rather than shatter it. Although Lee does have to retreat as he blocks Kazue's every attack. Because he is backing up, he doesn't have to bring his left hand from behind him, able to defend himself with by blocking with his right hand, dodging, and the occasional leg.

The eight ninja watch every move of the fight.

Eventually, Kazue tries to catch Lee off guard by aiming hard kick at his chest. Predicting this, Lee starts to crouch and brings both his hands together to catch the blow. At the last possible second, he switches from catching her foot and grabs her ankle with one hand instead. With one hand, he pulls Kazue and with the other he prepares to punch her.

Although she does get pulled, Kazue starts to spin as she is yanked by Lee. Kazue grabs Lee's wrist, slowing his punch. Using her momentum, she tries to elbow Lee in the face as she pushes Lee's attack further off-course. Before she can connect, Lee throws Kazue over his back. Twisting in midair, Kazue lands on her feet half a dozen feet away from Lee.

The fight continues in a very similar fashion, a taijutsu battle with Lee having an advantage until Kazue turns on her kekkei genkai, then Lee forces Kazue back. This repeats, until both Lee and Kazue charge each other.

They stop when they hearing a familiar yell,"Hey! Kazue!" Turning they see Shikamaru. Shikamaru walks toward Kazue with Choji following behind other ninjas present gather.

"Hey Kazue. I did some asking around. We might be able summon Maru back here." Shikamaru shows the ten ninjas a scroll.

Naruto squints, rubs the back of his head. "This is probably better than making sure she isn't thinking of the little bastard."

"Well I don't think we should try it here." Shikamaru says.

"Trying to get us out of your hair?" Neju asks.

"A little." Shikamaru turns, stuffs the scroll and his hands in a pocket, and leaves. Kazue follows after bidding the other ninjas goodbye.

"We'll make sure you get invited next time!" Sakara yells, cupping her hands around her mouth and going on her tiptoes.

Shikamaru doesn't turn when he responds,"I haven't that one before." Shaking his head and smiling, Shikamaru wonders if Naruto is the reason that he and his team aren't with the rest of the Konoha Eleven.

Once they get a decent distance away from Naruto and the others, Kazue asks," So what is in that scroll you have?" She stares at Shikamaru in an owl-like fashion. Her eyes are focused on Shikamaru's face, her head turned, and her body utterly still. She is utterly transfixed by what Shikamaru has to say even though he hasn't spoken yet.

At first Shikamaru is a bit put off, but then reasons that Kazue desperately wants Maru back.

"It's a summoning scroll of sorts. Their isn't any blood pact like most summoning jutsu, so it takes more chakra and concentration. I turned in some favors and got most the chakra taken care off." Shikamaru pulls the scroll back out of his pocket.

Kazue diverts her gaze to the ground, looking downtrodden. "Oh."

This time, Shikamaru looks at Kazue with a raised eyebrow. "Something wrong?"

"It's just…" There is a long pause and a sigh."We had something similar back in my village, so Digimons were taught to block them."

"What a drag. Still worth a try right?"

Kazue nods.

They stop, and Shikamaru unfurls the scroll on the ground. "It just needs a little more chakra, and for you to concentrate on Maru. I'll supply the chakra, you just put a hand on that circle and focus." He points to a circle at the bottom of the scroll.

Kazue follows his instructions, and Shikamaru supplies some chakra to the scroll. Kazue stares at the scroll and ground around it, almost shivering with anticipation.

Smoke billows from the scroll, making the area around the shinobi impossible to see. A few seconds pass, them the smoke turns heavy and black, almost choking Kazue and Shikamaru. Then, even more smoke comes from the scroll. After thirty seconds of this black smoke, the scroll starts to exert less smoke, and the smoke it does release is a a more normal color...

Eventually, the smoke dissipates, and they see a thin stone tablet on the scroll,where they'd hoped Maru would be. There are words on the tablet. The words are as if they were sketched by lightning, being burnt black, unusually thin, and randomly jutting out left or right where straight lines should be, as if held by an unsteady or rushed hand. The text is cut into the rock, rather than being applied on top of it.

'I'm not finished yet'

Kazue reads the tablet, and her lips form the words, but she just can't say it aloud. Her mind translates it as,"I'm not coming back." Turning she hides her face in her hands and tries not to cry.

Disappointed, frustrated, angry and concerned all at once, Shikamaru immediately goes to console Kazue. "Hey, it's going to be fine." He moves to put his hand on his shoulder.

"Don't say that!" Slapping his hand away, Kazue whirls on Shikamaru. "It's not fine! Nothing is fine! Maru's gone and… and…" She runs out of things to yell for a moment.

Taking Kazue's pause as a chance to speak Shikamaru says,"That's it. Maru is gone. Guess what? If Maru never comes back, you'll move on. You know Kakashi right? Naruto's sensei. Lost all his friends to the last war. And you know what? He's accepted it, he's moved on. Now he's got new friends."

"I don't want any new friends! I don't want to move on! I just want Maru to come back!" Practically shrieking, Kazue almost hits Shikamaru.

"I know, I know. He'll be back. Whether he's dragged back or comes back under his own power is up to him, but he'll be coming back."

"But why did he leave? Why didn't he tell me? Why-"

Shikamaru interrupts her, but speaks gently this time. "We've been over this, I don't know, you don't know. But he could of written something telling us to leave him alone on the stone. He didn't. That tells me he's coming back."

Unintentionally slamming her back into a wall, then sliding down a wall, Kazue buries her head in her hands. "You don't have to keep trying to help me, you know."

"You're a comrade. I kinda do."

Kazue looks up at Shikamaru. "I appreciate you trying. After today and yesterday, I'm just so burnt out. Can I just… have some alone time?"

Considering how emotionally strained he'd be if Choji had left without telling him why or not knowing when his friend would return, Shikamaru decides to obey Kazue's wish. He helps her up, and then goes to start the mission he is already late for.

Returning to Naruto's house, Kazue spends a few hours lying idle, tired of worrying about Maru, and too tired to worry about the Wizardmon. Just when she is feeling like she should do something that does not involve laying down, Naruto returns.

Realizes that he completely strayed from his goal, the dirty, tired ninja apologizes and promises to make it up to her. He decides to finish showing Kazue around Konoha. The tour takes the rest of the day.

At night, Kazue finds herself unable to sleep. Thinking of Maru and her destroyed village keeps her up for hours. Then, late into the night when almost everyone is sleeping, she hears the quietest of creakings. Guessing someone opened the door to Naruto's house, Kazue scrambles to the nearest weapon as silently as she can. She manages to find a kunai that Naruto left out. Inching herself into a crouching position silently while she creeps towards the hallway.

Kazue stops when she sees Maru slowly fly into the room she is in. The Wizardmon is almost floating, putting most of his remaining energy in floating.

Once Maru sees Kazue, he stops trying to be stealthy. The exhausted Wizardmon slumps against a wall and lets out a long sigh.

At the same time, Kazue puts her kunai down. Sitting down next to her partner, Kazue clasps Maru's hand. "Where'd you go?"

The Wizardmon stares off into space. "I went back to our village."

Remembering that she is inside,, Kazue whispers,"Why?"

"I had to say goodbye one last time. I wasn't leaving my home in such a state." Lowering his gaze from the ceiling to the floor, he says," And I had to get something ready."

"What was it?" Kazue pulls Maru a little closer, and squeezes his hand even harder.

"I'm not strong enough yet. If any of the Olympus Twelve return… If another Digimon attacks. I might not be able to handle it." Maru goes from speaking softly to almost declaring his intentions. He still manages to do so quietly.,"So I'm going trump card after trump card after trump card. Even if I'm not strong enough, I'll make sure I never lose."

"What did you do?"

Looking into his partner's eyes Maru asks,"How do you feel about the Kamikage?"

Surprised by the question, Kazue shakes her head and shrugs a bit,"I… I think-"

"Because I hate him." The Wizardmon stops talking, almost biting his tongue off. The Wizardmon's stress reaches a new peak as he speaks. Trembling slightly, Maru considerers rubbing his arms to rid himself of the tingling feeling he feels all over. He feels like the gods will strike him down for such a treasonous action.

But the Wizardmon calms himself and his beating heart. "I know I shouldn't, but I do. I hate your brother too. And Maul. And the rest of the Digimon and shinobi who were supposed to protect us!" His fists clench, shaking with anger and frustration. Maru isn't speaking loudly. despite the conviction in his voice.

Then, he returns to barely above a whisper, "I don't want to feel this way. I just- I just can't fail like they did. I can't stand them because they failed." Maru stops talking, and he looks to his partner, boring into her eyes almost desperately to find an answer.

"Okay. I don't feel the same way… I can't feel the same way. But I almost understand why you feel that way and I'm not going to try and change the way you feel. I'm here for you no matter what." She squeezes Maru's hand for emphasis.

"Do I… do I need help? Why can't I just forgive them and move on?" The Wizardmon looks down. His hands are shaking again.

Not knowing if Maru is speaking to her or aloud to himself, Kazue pulls in Maru for a hug. "No no no, you're fine. Don't force anything upon yourself. Just please-" Maru notices tears flowing down Kazue's face." please don't leave me again!"

"You thought I left you? No. I would never! I had to get this ready for you! I rushed it all for you!" Maru almost breaks free of Kazue's hug so he can show her he means it.

"Why… why couldn't I come with you? You've exhausted yourself, there and back isn't a two day trip."  
"I left on a whim and a surge of emotion. I'm sorry."

"It only matters that you're back now. Next time you need to go just tell me okay?"

"I couldn't bring you because I can't stand what I've prepared!" Maru blurts out, unable to bring himself to lie to his partner, even if he includes part of the truth.

"Just tell me what you did."

Finding control over his emotions, Maru becomes his usual, seemingly emotionless self. He becomes stiff in Kazue's embrace. "I'm not telling you. I can't. Please stop asking."

Feeling this, Kazue lets go of Maru. She is sitting in front of him with her knees folded under her. "You… you did something to the Kamikage didn't you? A ressurection jutsu? That's it,isn't it?"

Taking Maru's silence as him refusing to answer, Kazue opens her arms and says,"Come hear, you."

Maru walks towards Kazue and ends up in another hug. The kunoichi speaks softly,"We both have our problems. I think you stress too much."

"I can-"

"Go to sleep because you've exhausted yourself."

Lying on her side, Kazue keeps Maru in her embrace as she prepares to sleep the remainder of the night. Feeling Maru snuggle up against her to get more comfortable, she smiles. Before she can close her eyes, she asks,"You and I are okay, right?"

"Of course."

"Promise never to do that again?"

"Promise."

And they fall asleep like that, Maru in Kazue's arms while she lies on the floor with her back lying against the wall. They both fall asleep with smiles on their faces, finding comfort in each other.


End file.
